24: Serve Before You Sell - How to Serve Your Audience on Social Media When Selling Feels Weird

Makers Gonna Sell: A Podcast for Creative Entrepreneurs with Cheryl Ham and Nicky Avery

Today’s podcast is about a subject that we mention frequently when we’re talking about how to be successful as a maker entrepreneur. In our type of business, we thrive when we build and develop our relationship with our audience. Without that relationship, without that trust between us and our audience, we wouldn’t have a consistent place to sell the products that we create. Understanding this relationship is so important to staying successful, and it’s something that we can’t lose sight of the bigger our business gets.

We always need to show up for our audience. Reaching out, creating content for our audience and showing them interesting ways that they can create is how we build the know, like, and trust that’s so crucial to keeping them as an audience. It’s that trust that allows us to turn around and sell to them when we have a new product to launch, and keeping us in mind when they’re interested in purchasing the products that we create.

Quotes:

“The gift that you can give to your audience is serving them so that they can get to know you and trust you so that they want to buy your product. We’re giving something to our audience so that they can have some value out of our content, so that they can get to know who we are as people.” – Cheryl

“When I learned different ways that I could serve my audience, I no longer really was just selling, and now that has made me comfortable with showing up and making the pitch to sell what I had put out there. When I’m serving my audience, I don't feel like I’m just a door-to-door salesman.” – Nicky

“The things you have going on in your business are interesting to other people who might end up wanting to buy from you eventually.” – Cheryl

“If you think of creating posts on social media as checking the box off of your to do list every day, you are really missing out on an amazing, fun community that you can build with your audience if you just let yourself enjoy it.” - Nicky

Key Takeaways:

- Staying connected with your audience is key to getting them to know you, like you and trust you

- Your audience wants to hear from you!

- You can also use serving your audience as a chance to make connections in the maker community

Check out our YouTube Channels:

Cheryl: https://www.youtube.com/c/HypnoticYarnHY

Nicky: https://www.youtube.com/c/AveryLaneCreations

Have a subject you’d like us to cover or just want to comment about how much you love the podcast? We want to hear from you! You can like, subscribe, and leave us a 5-star rating everywhere you can download podcasts.

Come find us online - we would love to hear from you!

• Cheryl: Indie Dyed Entrepreneur on Instagram or Facebook
• Nicky: Avery Lane Creations on Instagram or Facebook
• For a Text Notification when new episodes drop, text “Makers Gonna Sell” to 603-928-7108
• Hypnotic Yarn on Instagram or Facebook
• Yarnable Subscription Box - Cheryl’s Subscription Box
• ALC Yarns - Nicky’s Yarn Shop
• Nicky’s Maker’s Momentum Inner Circle