Warm audience: What to do when you need clients fast.

When you need clients fast, but you’ve tapped out your warm audience, it’s time to expand your audience, and let me tell you why with a story.

This summer one of my good friends made the leap from her 9-5 to full time business owner.  She was miserable at her day job.  It was an unhealthy and toxic work place.  Like super dramatic.  On a whim, she decided to take a chance on herself and her happiness. She was excited about depending on herself for bookings, not worrying about someone else filling her schedule.  

But she was also nervous about that same thing, filling her schedule and not being able to rely on someone else to do it.  She has a support system behind her. Her husband has a good job, so that definitely helped. Not all of us are that lucky.

Now lets fast forward a few weeks. Her schedule was full.  She was having a blast being a business owner, loved her workspace, and was working with clients she loved.

Then, a few weeks later when I chatted with her, she started talking about how dead business was.  How she just didn’t have anyone booking her services no matter how much she hustled.

After asking her a few questions about her marketing, where she was advertising, how she was trying to find business, I quickly realized she was going about it all wrong.  

She was tapping out her warm audience instead of trying to find a totally new or “cold” audience.

So what is a warm audience?

A warm audience is people who know about you and your services already. They are already warmed up to the thought of working with you and are aware of what you do.  A few examples would be your previous clients, Facebook friends list, or your Instagram following.

With a warm audience, it’s important to limit the amount of selling you do. Think about how annoying it can be to see the MLM companies in your newsfeed over and over again.  

Back when Plexus was big and honestly it may still be big, but I’m not aware for the reason I am about to tell you.  So back when Plexus was big, I would see 2-3 posts literally every day about how great it is and to “join our team.” 

Every day.

One day, I was sitting in my car on my lunch break just scrolling through my newsfeed.  I saw the word Plexus again.

I was having a bad day. I was still working in the dental field, and I had like 7 patients in 4 hours that day.   I was cranky, sore, and tired. I remember thinking to myself, “Okay that’s enough. I am so tired of seeing this every single day.” 

So, I muted the word Plexus. 

You don’t want to be that kind of business person.  Don’t make your audience feel like you’re begging for business.  You don’t want to look desperate. 

To demand higher prices you want to look like you’re in high demand, even if you aren’t yet.

What’s a cold audience then?

A cold audience on the other hand is totally new people.  It’s those who have never heard of you until now. 

An example would be new traffic to your website.  Maybe they see you at a trade show. Or targeted fb ads to totally new people.

Getting in front of new people is what’s going to help you grow and expand your business.

The problem is this is harder because it’s not your comfort zone.

Your warm audience is people you mostly know, people you interact with regularly. A cold audience is really putting yourself out there in front of new people leaving you a little vulnerable.  It can be really scary! 

Set yourself up for success.

To help you make this a little less scary set yourself up for success before you start trying to get in front of a cold audience.

1. Your business should run smoothly and you should personally have the ability to achieve the result your client wants.  
2. You must have a high converting website to bring in this cold audience when they are ready to bite. 
3. And if they don’t bite you should have a marketing plan to help them go from cold lead to warm lead to paying client.
   • An example of a marketing funnel to take them from cold to warm to client would be:
     • A freebie that they would be highly interested in like my ultimate guide to prepping fior a boudoir session
     • A welcome sequence to help them get to know you so that hopefully they book by the time they complete the sequence.
     • If they don’t book they will jump into your regularly scheduled email list to warm up to paying client.

Conclusion

The biggest thing I want you to understand is that you need to know the difference between a warm audience and a cold audience.  Make sure you know when you’ve tapped out your warm audience and when you need to get in front of a brand new audience.  Don’t be that annoying business owner in everyone’s social media feed.

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