There are a lot of opportunities to build a business in the online space. And once you start to do a little research, you begin hearing about people earning seven or even eight figures a year from their online businesses. You might think, well, I wanna learn from them because those figures suggest they know what they’re doing.

I’m here to tell you, NOT SO FAST.

I’ve studied marketing for years. Hell, I’ve even read marketing textbooks, the real ones that you use if you’re taking courses to get a degree in marketing, and here’s what I’ve realized: most of what we’re being taught in the online marketing space is complete BS.

There’s a disconnect between the professional marketing approach and what we’re doing in the online space. One reason for this difference is that in the online space, a big part of what we’re selling is ourselves, and we’re what makes our business. It’s an important consideration, but there’s more to the story… So let’s dive in and talk about the three components you need to build an online business the right way.

Commit To Lead An Audience

If you’re gonna build an online business, you’re going to have to figure out who you serve. That means you need to identify a specific audience. You can’t just say, “I serve everyone.” You can’t even say you serve women or men. You have to be more specific. The reality is if you’re trying to reach everyone, you’re not helping anyone.

As you step into the role of leading an audience, you’ll have to figure out where your ideal customer hangs out online, identify the specific problem they’re struggling with, and reach them with a specific message. This is your niche audience.

A lot of people teach about niching, but let me warn you: niching is something that a lot of people who teach marketing get wrong. They simply tell you to listen to what people say and “parrot” their words back to them. However, your job is to lead them and show them what they need, not simply give them what they want. This is especially the case when what they want isn’t actually good for them. Don’t fall for that “sell them what they want and give them what they need” crap because that will ultimately hurt you.

Another part of being willing to lead is knowing what you’re going to help people with. Why are you so different? You’ve got to have something that sets you apart, and it has to be something real.

Connect With Your Audience

Once you’ve committed to lead an audience, you have to be willing to connect with them. This is the piece that’s largely missing from traditional professional marketing.

In the online space, people decide to do business with you partly because you’re different and they have a connection to you. They see you as the leader of the business and someone they can relate to.

This connection with your audience is what’s going to matter over the long term, especially if you want your audience to become raving fans and brand advocates. That means you’ve gotta be willing to put in the time and effort to build relationships.

While there are different ways to build connections with your audience, email is one of the most powerful methods. Social media is also a good place to connect with your audience day in and day out. As you engage with your audience and build relationships with them, they begin to feel like friends.

When you’ve established yourself so that your audience feels like you’re one of their friends, and you have a product to offer, guess what? They’re gonna want to buy from you.

Convert Your Audience To Buyers

As you connect with your audience, you’ll be able to figure out what your offer is because you will see what they need. Your offer isn’t something you create in advance. It should be something that you create based upon the work you’ve done in committing to lead and connecting with your audience.

During the first two steps, your audience is gonna tell you what they want. In the professional marketing approach, that’s about sensing what the audience wants and then reacting and creating.

When it’s time to convert your audience, you will be able to create the right offer based on what they told you they want. Then you will also create messaging to help them understand if your offer is right for them, what the benefits are, and why they should buy it.

Getting To Work

Building a business the right way means you commit to lead an audience, you connect with your audience, and you convert your audience into buyers. These are the steps you need to take if you want to build a business that will be around for the long term. This strategy is built on the fundamental principles of marketing and not just what some random person on the internet says. If you do it consistently and position your business well, people will come to you and buy and tell their friends about you.

I’d love to continue to help you build your business the right way. Head over to BADA$$ Online Marketing University where you can get FREE access to my signature program that teaches you how to build and market your online business. No tricks, no upsells.

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