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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.
About Me:
My name is Tara Bryan. I help business owners break into the next level of success by packaging their expertise into an online course experience. It's my passion to help to find the fastest path to results to create a greater impact and income for you and your tribe.
Check out my free Step-by-Step guide to building your online course. In it are the top steps and questions you need to ask before you get started. Check it out here: https://goto.taralbryan.com/step-by-step-guide
This group is 100% focused on support, knowledge and example sharing, and building a community of online course builders who are passionate about building awesome learning experiences.
In this community, we are passionate about building learning experiences that produce results for our learners. We do that by building engaging, motivating, gamified, and learner-centered courses. We come up with ideas and strategies to ensure that our learners can thrive and succeed in our product.
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Find us at https://www.Taralbryan.com
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Want to discuss your digital business? Schedule a call with Tara.
Hey, everybody, it's Tara, Bryan, and you are listening to
Speaker:the course building secrets podcast. Whether you're a coach
Speaker:or a CEO, the success of your team and clients is based on
Speaker:your ability to deliver a consistent experience and guide
Speaker:them on the fastest path to results. This podcast will be
Speaker:giving practical real life tips that you can use today to build
Speaker:your online experiences that get results and create raving fans.
Speaker:Why? So you can monetize your expertise and serve more people
Speaker:without adding more time or team to your business? If you're
Speaker:looking to uncover your million dollar framework, package it and
Speaker:use it to scale you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hey,
Speaker:everyone, welcome to today's episode. In today's episode, I
Speaker:want to talk about something that you may not know about me.
Speaker:So when I was running my digital learning agency, I actually
Speaker:scaled it seven figures without ads. And I want to talk about my
Speaker:journey through that and, and why I think that it is a solid
Speaker:approach. I don't recommend not doing ads. But I don't recommend
Speaker:just doing ads as your only strategy for how to grow your
Speaker:business. And I want to talk a little bit about that today. And
Speaker:why that is and then how do you actually scale with ads or
Speaker:without ads. So when I was building my agency, one of the
Speaker:things I knew I needed to do was become visible, I needed to have
Speaker:people know that I existed, that we had something to offer, and
Speaker:that we could help them. And so the way that I started was to
Speaker:just go out and figure out where my ideal customers are hanging
Speaker:out, right? Where, where are they gathering? What are they
Speaker:doing? And in what conversations are they having. That was a very
Speaker:first sort of activity. And again, like if you're looking at
Speaker:this through the lens of you want to start ads as quickly as
Speaker:possible, you still have to go through some of these mechanics,
Speaker:before you get started with ads, you don't just have an idea and
Speaker:start with ads. However, some people have more money than
Speaker:time. And so if you have more money than time, you can test
Speaker:ads earlier, if you have more time than you do more of an
Speaker:organic strategy, where you're out, you know, kind of putting
Speaker:your shingle up and getting out there and, and building
Speaker:relationships. But it's a two prong approach. And so I want to
Speaker:talk through that today. And I don't talk about it a lot.
Speaker:Actually, I probably should talk about it more. But that's why
Speaker:I'm, I'm telling you all about it today, which is that I
Speaker:actually did scale without any ads to seven, insert surpassed
Speaker:seven figures. Because here's what I understood is that number
Speaker:one, I had to be visible. I had people had to know who I was and
Speaker:what we offered. And they needed to feel confident that we had
Speaker:something that that would help them. And I needed to be where
Speaker:people were to bring them towards me, right? So they knew
Speaker:that we existed. So let's just break down those two things for
Speaker:right now. So when you are in a brick and mortar business,
Speaker:right, you're building an agency, you're building a
Speaker:business that has an office, where you're in a particular
Speaker:location, right, you are serving people in a particular location,
Speaker:it makes sense that you would say, okay, you know, I'm, here's
Speaker:where my office is, you know, go introduce yourself to your
Speaker:neighbors go in or go to maybe the local Chamber of Commerce or
Speaker:whatever, and do some networking events and meet people. That
Speaker:makes sense if you're starting a local business and looking at it
Speaker:from that perspective, there was a little bit of some of what I
Speaker:was doing. When I started my digital business is said, Okay,
Speaker:well, who do I want to help? And where are they and what are they
Speaker:doing and what do they need? Right. And so I went out and
Speaker:physically met with people I did networking groups, I went to
Speaker:local and national association meetings, I spoke at both local
Speaker:national conferences, right, so I was a guest speaker, I, you
Speaker:know, was an in charge of a user group. So there's a group of, of
Speaker:business executives who were a part of this, we would meet
Speaker:weekly, and monthly to talk about tools and different things
Speaker:that were going on. So I led that group so kind of grew that
Speaker:group organically, and it worked with them. Right? So what starts
Speaker:to happen is the sort of snowball effect of you're, you
Speaker:know, going out and meeting a lot of different people and
Speaker:you're speaking and you're in, you know, you're leading a free
Speaker:group and you're drawing people to you, and then And then I got
Speaker:to be known as the elearning person, right? Like the, the
Speaker:person who you go to, to get all of your, your elearning done
Speaker:and, and out the door. And so that was how we started to grow
Speaker:was in groups like that. So when you're doing that in a local
Speaker:business or even in a you're trying to kind of go national,
Speaker:but there's more of a, you know, people are gathering physically,
Speaker:then you have to, you know, kind of be out where they are. And
Speaker:then, of course, you talk about it, right talk about what you're
Speaker:doing, how you're helping people, you know, what were you
Speaker:were speaking on, and in all of that, and that helps to sort of
Speaker:snowball, I get more people in the door from just having those
Speaker:conversations than anything else that I did any other strategy
Speaker:that I employed was I went out to speak at a national
Speaker:conference, and I could, I could pay to be a sponsor, I could pay
Speaker:to, you know, have a booth or have a big thing. And, and that
Speaker:was great, I met people, but it was when I was speaking on
Speaker:stage. And, and having, you know, kind of having people come
Speaker:to me afterwards, where I got nine out of 10, of, you know,
Speaker:the business opportunities that came in, because I was on stage,
Speaker:they saw what my signature presentation was, they saw what
Speaker:I had to offer, they learned about my clients and some of the
Speaker:projects we had worked on. And that was the thing that was more
Speaker:compelling to them than kind of walking up to somebody in a in a
Speaker:paid sponsorship opportunity. So that's the first thing is, is
Speaker:your goal, as a digital CEO, as a digital business owner, is to
Speaker:reproduce that activity online. So often, when we're working
Speaker:with people, they sort of want to build something and then stay
Speaker:disconnected to it, right, they want to go off and do their
Speaker:other thing. Or maybe they're leading with a side hustle, or
Speaker:they want to build a business, but they don't actually want to
Speaker:be visible or connect with people. And in to me, that is
Speaker:that is a missed opportunity. Because at the end of the day,
Speaker:whether you're doing ads, whether you're doing organic
Speaker:outreach, it's at the end of all of that is a human that you're
Speaker:helping. And so you have to build that relationship with
Speaker:that person who says, That's me, they can help me. And, and
Speaker:they're drawn to whatever your solution is. So at the end of
Speaker:the day, you always have to remember that right? Whether
Speaker:it's organic, or its ads, it doesn't really matter. At the
Speaker:end of the day, you're helping somebody and you have to solve
Speaker:their problem. And you have to get them to raise their hand and
Speaker:say, Yes, this is, this is for me, I want to work with this
Speaker:person, or buy their course or buy their program or to coaching
Speaker:or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it's a person.
Speaker:Most often when people are not successful in ads, it's because
Speaker:they're starting too early in there, they've lost sight of the
Speaker:fact that there's a person at the end that they actually have
Speaker:to be speaking to rates not just about going out and what you
Speaker:know, even if you're doing organic, an organic traffic
Speaker:strategy, through social media, at the end of the day, you're
Speaker:not just out there running around, you are there for very
Speaker:strategic intention, which is to help connect with a human at the
Speaker:end of whatever that engagement is, whatever that activity is
Speaker:right to this podcast, I am speaking directly to you, I am
Speaker:not speaking to whoever in the world may be interested in what
Speaker:I have to offer, I was speaking directly to you. And hopefully
Speaker:serving you and giving you some ideas and some tips and some
Speaker:tricks for how you can incorporate various things in
Speaker:your digital learning, or digital course digital program
Speaker:or whatever kind of digital business you have. So you can
Speaker:grow it so you can really help the people that you are serving.
Speaker:Right so at the end of the day, that's always what you need to
Speaker:remember regardless of what strategy you're working at. So
Speaker:so so again, your your goal in an organic strategy is how do
Speaker:you get in front of these people? How do you find them?
Speaker:How do you build a relationship with them? And, and so in a
Speaker:digital space that is still going out and finding groups
Speaker:where they're hanging out? networking groups speaking,
Speaker:getting in front of other people's audiences, right do you
Speaker:have colleagues or other people in your space who are doing
Speaker:similar but different things that you can get in front of
Speaker:their audience and and serve them? Right, so
Speaker:find somebody who has a complementary skill set or
Speaker:specialty that you do, and then partner together. That's how you
Speaker:grow. That's how you start to gain momentum. I have a client
Speaker:right now who is working on becoming visible for the first
Speaker:time, outside of his, his job, and, and outside of, you know,
Speaker:just sort of trying to do ads, which didn't work for him. And
Speaker:it didn't work because he did it too early, it didn't establish a
Speaker:relationship didn't start to get out there and make some, some
Speaker:connections, if you will, outside of just, you know, kind
Speaker:of pushing up his program at people, right. So, again,
Speaker:building those, those relationships, okay. So that's
Speaker:super important, find where they're hanging out and hang out
Speaker:there. Right? When I started that, the user group that I was
Speaker:running, we saw a need, we saw something that needed to happen
Speaker:in the market, we, we said, you know, what, we're gonna create
Speaker:this group, we're gonna meet on a regular basis, anyone can come
Speaker:in, and, and connect and learn and get what they need to. And
Speaker:it grew from, you know, a couple people, at first to hundreds and
Speaker:hundreds of people. And then eventually, we kind of rolled
Speaker:into the national, the National version of it. And we had people
Speaker:all over the US who are coming to us asking us questions and
Speaker:having us help, not only how did you grow up, grow this group,
Speaker:but also asking us very specific questions that increased our
Speaker:reach even more. And so don't be afraid to do that online, don't
Speaker:be afraid to draw people to you. And, and think about how to get
Speaker:out there and build relationships and and serve
Speaker:people, be it a podcast, be it social media, be it however you
Speaker:want to, to get out there and draw people to you, you have to
Speaker:have a place where they can find you. And you have to have a
Speaker:place where you're able to connect with people. Because
Speaker:again, it's all about that relationship. Okay, the only
Speaker:other thing I'll say is that as you're doing this, you have to
Speaker:be really clear on what your goals are. And so I knew that,
Speaker:that when I was going out, I wasn't going to run ads, I
Speaker:wasn't going to just do kind of the that I wasn't going to just
Speaker:throw it out there, I was gonna grow very strategically, around,
Speaker:you know, kind of one relationship at a time. And at
Speaker:some point, I grew beyond that, right. So this is when I'm first
Speaker:starting, and got to my first seven figures. So at some point,
Speaker:I kind of grew beyond that, but it served me so well, because
Speaker:you it's a snowball effect, right, you start somewhat small,
Speaker:and then all of a sudden, there's referrals, because
Speaker:somebody has heard about the work that you've done, or
Speaker:somebody's recommended you. And then and then you get on stages,
Speaker:and you get in, in different situations where you are in
Speaker:front of a broader audience. And then again, you're bringing more
Speaker:people to you. And it becomes something that I mean, I was at
Speaker:one point getting referrals and, and word of mouth, sort of, you
Speaker:know, sales opportunities. And I didn't really have to do much,
Speaker:right, because I had planted the seeds because I had been out
Speaker:there, building the business. And so for if you're first
Speaker:starting in this game like that is where 100%, I recommend that
Speaker:you start, you don't necessarily know your voice yet, you don't
Speaker:necessarily know exactly the messaging that's going to draw
Speaker:somebody to you, you don't know exactly who is out there, and
Speaker:where they're gathering and how to find them. I remember I did
Speaker:when I first kind of transition more to 100% digital, I did try
Speaker:ads, and I tried them too early. Because of course everyone says
Speaker:do ads, like all you need to do is do ads, and you put $1 in and
Speaker:you get two out and it's it's super easy. But the problem is,
Speaker:is that you have to have a compelling message that draws
Speaker:people to you, you have to be very clear on who you're
Speaker:targeting, and how to find them and where they're hanging out.
Speaker:Online, right have to be really clear about all of those things
Speaker:before you go out and do ad ads by themselves or not going to
Speaker:create customers for you. It's all of the foundation, all of
Speaker:the things that you're putting in place both from an organic
Speaker:strategy perspective and a paid ad ad perspective that helps to
Speaker:to help will help you grow. And so it's so if anyone's
Speaker:recommending you just go straight from concept to ads. I
Speaker:I would be very careful in how you're working with them because
Speaker:really have to be clear on what your goals are. are, who you're
Speaker:serving, what results or transformation you're getting
Speaker:for them, and how you are clearly articulating that to
Speaker:them. So people raise their hand and say I'm in, right. So all
Speaker:ads are is a way to amplify your message. So it's like a
Speaker:megaphone for your message. So if you don't have your message
Speaker:dialed in to the place where you can convert people who are in
Speaker:your world already, it's not the time to go to ADS, right. So if
Speaker:you have, you know, say you did an organic strategy, or say you
Speaker:have some people who are ready to purchase from you already,
Speaker:maybe you have an email list, maybe you have some people who
Speaker:are kind of in your world who are asking for you to do
Speaker:something, you know, package a program, create something for
Speaker:them, that will help them. Those are people who are ready to buy,
Speaker:right, that's an easy conversion, because they're
Speaker:already in your world, they're already ready to go. If you
Speaker:can't get them to buy, all the people are kind of swimming
Speaker:towards you already, then ads aren't going to help you going
Speaker:out and finding people who don't know you who don't trust you who
Speaker:don't know what you have to offer, then there that is,
Speaker:you're just going out into a sea and yelling, and nobody can hear
Speaker:you, right, because you haven't dialed in how to get customers,
Speaker:even at a micro level, right. So you've got to do that. First,
Speaker:you've got to make sure that you can convert people into buyers,
Speaker:when they're swimming towards you. I have a client who has a
Speaker:sizable waitlist, and it's great. But she's having trouble
Speaker:getting them to pull the trigger to purchase her group coaching
Speaker:program. And those are people who have already been swimming
Speaker:towards her, they've raised their hand and say I'm ready.
Speaker:I'm interested in this, let me know when you open up the
Speaker:program, and I want to join. So if you can't get those people to
Speaker:join yet, ads is not the direction to go. Because you
Speaker:have to work on your messaging, you have to work on how to
Speaker:convert people not go out into a sea of people who don't know
Speaker:you, that's a much, much heavier lift, right. And so once you
Speaker:know that you have something converting you have people who
Speaker:are coming in, it's consistent, you can move people through your
Speaker:funnels. And thereby, that's the time to start going out and
Speaker:looking at more of an ad strategy. And that's, again, for
Speaker:conversions, not for awareness, right, you can go out and do it
Speaker:an awareness campaign right away to, again, it's the megaphone to
Speaker:amplify that you're there. But the expectation that they're
Speaker:going to turn into buyers is not going to happen until you can
Speaker:convert the people who are already swimming towards you. So
Speaker:anyway, so that is a little bit about my kind of my story of how
Speaker:I did this, how I got to seven figures. And honestly, it didn't
Speaker:even really dawn on me to spend a lot of money and time on ads,
Speaker:because this strategy was working so well. But because I I
Speaker:knew that I needed to be out there building relationships.
Speaker:Sales is a process of planting seeds and helping to, to be
Speaker:there when people are ready. A very few times are people out,
Speaker:you know, looking actively, right, maybe some maybe they
Speaker:have a problem that they know they need solved, but but
Speaker:they're not quite sure yet, when or how to do that.
Speaker:If they're if they're in a place where they're just seeing that
Speaker:they have a problem, they're just seeing that there's that
Speaker:they need to find a solution, that is the best place to come
Speaker:in and build that relationship with them. It's not actually
Speaker:when they're actively looking, because they're actively looking
Speaker:at you and a bunch of other people write in. So it becomes
Speaker:harder to convert at that point. You want to you want to be there
Speaker:and have that relationship built. When they're ready, then
Speaker:they they are like that, yes, this is who I want to work with.
Speaker:And this is how I can move it forward. So think about that as
Speaker:you're going forward. So just to summarize, the goal is to build
Speaker:relationships, whether it's a paid ad, or an organic strategy
Speaker:is to build relationships at the end of all of that as a human
Speaker:that you are helping really have your messaging dialed in at how
Speaker:you can help that human what the transformation is, and what
Speaker:they're gonna get as they're working with you. That's a very
Speaker:first thing to do before you turn on that megaphone and put
Speaker:it out there into a broader market. Then know what your
Speaker:goals are our goals just to start testing your offers,
Speaker:testing what you're doing and and, you know, knowing that you
Speaker:can start to convert people in into customers, or are you do
Speaker:have that machine going, and now it's ready Need to amplify and
Speaker:get out there in to a bigger and broader message because that's
Speaker:then when you can go out with ads, because you, you've proven
Speaker:that that system works. Okay. So that is my story that is my
Speaker:journey for you, your journey may be a little bit different,
Speaker:maybe you combine them, maybe you work more with, with
Speaker:different partners in different referral people, joint venture
Speaker:partners, where you're, you're coming together, and you're both
Speaker:promoting each other to each other's audiences. Maybe you're
Speaker:offering a referral bonus here, you're doing affiliate
Speaker:commissions, there's lots of different strategies outside of
Speaker:just an ADS strategy to focus on as you're building your
Speaker:business. But I'm going to tell you that you have to actively be
Speaker:building your business, there is no such thing as putting
Speaker:something out there and throwing ads at it. And and hoping that
Speaker:they convert, right, it's that second to happen. And so if
Speaker:that's your strategy, if you think that just you know, going
Speaker:from concept to ADS, to seven figures is going to work. It's
Speaker:not going to, and so this is the time to start building, putting
Speaker:those building blocks in place, the people who have those
Speaker:programs, that goal, that scene, I'll say, seem to go from zero
Speaker:to seven figures very quickly, already have a sizable audience
Speaker:that are already very well known in this space. And they already
Speaker:have people who they they know they can convert into buyers, it
Speaker:is not a new strategy, right, they already have kind of that
Speaker:flywheel or that engine, that that they know works to go from
Speaker:taking a stranger into being a buyer. They're not starting from
Speaker:scratch, and they're not starting this without a strong
Speaker:foundation. So so keep that in mind, right, we always have to
Speaker:make sure that we're not looking at somebody's, you know, where
Speaker:they are today. And when we're first starting, or we have to
Speaker:look back at where they were when they first started in the
Speaker:game, and then and then apply the strategies that they've
Speaker:maybe that they've taken to get there. Right. So look at that
Speaker:and apply that as you're, you're building your business, but
Speaker:hopefully this serves you today. It gives you a couple of tips as
Speaker:to how to start looking at your organic growth strategy. Again,
Speaker:combine it with ads when you're ready to turn on that that
Speaker:megaphone. But when you're first getting started, get out there,
Speaker:start finding where your people are hanging out, start joining
Speaker:the conversation, not selling to them, right just go out and
Speaker:serve become the person that they count on for whatever it is
Speaker:that you are selling. All right. There you go. Hopefully that
