How to grow your list (without social media)

Social media is a new thing.

Marketing and sales aren’t.

There have been plenty of ultra-successful marketers selling all sorts of products, services, and even experiences for far longer than social media has been around.

Don’t get trapped in this mindset that social media is the end-all-be-all. The only people who want you to believe that are the ones who want to sell you their social media course.

I’m not saying social media doesn’t work—it does.

But it’s not for everyone and it isn’t your only option.

Realize that, while powerful and useful, social proofis far lower on the ladder of necessity than you might think.

90% of all the ads you see (if not more) don’t use any kind of social proof. They simply make you aware of a problem you might be having, and then offer you a potential solution to said problem.

If the advertiser did his homework, aka he knows what keeps his market up at night, then the problem will be so close to home you can’t help but pay attention to whatever solution the ad might be offering. And if the solution is positioned correctly then you, the customer seeing the ad, will end up buying it.

Regardless of whether you’ve heard of the product before or your next-door neighbor Nancy also happened to have used that same product.

Once your realize this, that’s when countless doors will open for you.

You’ll realize all you have to do is get your product, service, or better yet, yourself (and a plug to your email list—the most valuable asset you’ll ever build and which allows you to create repeat buyers and die-hard fans instead of having to survive on one-time sales) in front of your target audience while talking about their problems or their interests—regardless of what market you’re in (every single product in the entertainment industry solves the “problem” of boredom—which just so happens to be at an all-time high right now; making it the best time ever to grow your entertainment business if you know what you’re doing).

Some possibilities:

  • Run ads on Google, Facebook, Amazon, popular forums, or wherever your target audience hangs out (simple yet effective)

  • Get on podcasts as a guest speaker: start small and build your way up. You won’t get on Joe Rogan’s podcast as a no-name but there are thousands of people with dreams of building a big-name podcasts who just so happen to always have a need for guests to interview. Mention what you’re working on and how that could interest their audience and chances are most, if not everyone, would like to talk to you.

  • Write blog posts, articles, or press releases for online newspapers, other people’s blogs and email lists, internet magazines, or any of the tens of thousands of media outlets all scattered around the internet (most of which are owned by people who dislike writing articles but want to publish as much content as possible so they can make a living off the ad revenue)

  • Message local newspapers, radio shows, or television channels: Most people lead boring lives. So just by building a business or doing something artsy or creative, you instantly become so much more interesting—which is more than entertaining enough for every local media outlet to want to interview you (what’s a better story than the “local celebrity”?)

  • Meet new people and keep an eye out for potential joint-ventures: You’re not alone in your market. Use this to your advantage. Work together with other creatives or entrepreneurs. Ask if they’d be interested in recommending you or your products to their audience if you’d do the same for them (or simply pay them to recommend you).

There’s a lot more where that came from, but this should be more than enough to keep anyone busy for quite a while already.

After all, no amount of information will save you if you never get to implementing things.

So get to it.

Start implementing at least one or two of these and build yourself a big email list.

At that point, you might want to master how to write engaging, entertaining, and persuasive emails that’ll help sell your products while keeping your readers reading day after day as well.

For that, consider checking out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

Get ready for a HUGE milestone

I’m so close to self-publishing my very first non-fiction book on Amazon.

More precisely, I plan on launching my book (paperback & ebook), which is about how to make the act of writing fun, enjoyable, and quick, this Monday. That’s assuming everything goes according to plan—I have no idea what problems might await me since this is, in fact, the very first time I’m trying this out.

All I still have to do is craft myself a book cover and write two or three more chapters I thought about last minute (read: an hour ago).

So far it’s been a boatload of fun (surprise, surprise) writing up all the chapters and figuring out how this self-publishing thing works.

I’ve had many revelations these past few weeks.

But one of the most important revelations has been how easy and smooth this process has been until now. I’ve put this off for so long, thinking it would be a real challenge, and something I wasn’t quite ready for, yet. I wanted to create a true “masterpiece” and get everything perfect.

Truth was, I just didn’t want to move out of my comfort zone and create something that’s not digital—something I have plenty of experience with.

But as with anything, starting is always the hardest part. Most things in life are a lot simpler than your inner ego scares you into believing.

So you can expect a truckload of more books from me in the future if everything goes well this Monday. Hell, you can expect a whole lot more stuff from me even if it doesn’t do well.

The only way to fail is to stop trying after all.

So that’s that for today. Just a quick announcement and hopefully an insightful and motivational lesson.

That said, while I haven’t got anything on how to publish books on Amazon (not yet at least), I’ve got plenty of experience creating and launching digital courses, including a top-selling product that’ll teach you exactly how you can do so too (and in 21 days or less from start to finish!)

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/product