Four Pillars of Audience Growth

Transforming your idea into audio is just the beginning. Promoting that work is perhaps even more important than actually making it. And yet, for many creators, marketing yourself and your work can be a terrifying thought. That’s where good planning comes in.

Here are four essential pillars of marketing, why they are essential, and three simple do’s and don’ts to get you started. 

But first, three things to remember: 

There are several ways to grow your audience via your website, blog, social media, newsletter, and community platforms built for creators. But, there are three critical factors to keep in mind to grow your audience with outreach. 

• First, it’s critical to know your audience – who they are, what their preferences are, and why they follow you/your work. 
• Second, when you better understand your audience, you know how to create consistent and unique content geared towards them. 
• Finally, audience growth is equal parts finding new audiences and nurturing your existing audience. Enable a feedback loop to keep growing this relationship.  

Now, on to the fun part. 

Pillar 1: Your Website – building a hub for your content 

As audio creators, we all wear multiple hats. To best showcase our hat collection, we need a showroom. That’s your website. Think of this as the hub for all links, calls to action, content, and feedback. 

Why: You need one place on the internet that stores ALL your information and makes it easily accessible. It’s always better to have audiences find this rather than sending them to an RSS feed or a Twitch account, where you are just a piece of a web of distracting links and content that can steer your audience away from you.

Do: 

1. Keep it simple—you might have a grand vision for your personal brand but it’s okay to start simple and build your narrative from there. 
2. Iterations are better than delay—if you find yourself getting stuck on an abstract idea of perfection, remember that it’s better to optimize than to be late to the game. Don’t delay putting a simple yet elegant website out there, just because it’s not perfect yet. 
3. Keep it updated—if you’re building this out to be the first or second level of interaction between you and your audience, remember to keep your website up-to-date.
4. House it all–House or include all activity under the upcoming three pillars on the website. Remember, it’s the hub.

Don’t: 

1. Overthink it; you can always iterate and perfect as you go. 
2. Overcrowd with content; use categorization techniques like pages or tools like Linktree to keep your audience focused on the most important actions. 
3. Make it all about yourself; use your platform to share awesome work done by other creators. This also opens up possibilities to engage with those creators. 

Tools: 

A few useful tools when building this pillar include: 

• Website builders ranging in complexity from Squarespace to WordPress; 
• Graphic creation tools and templates from Canva; 
• Traffic measurement and analysis tools like Google Analytics and Statcounter. 

Pillar 2: A Newsletter – providing unique value to your audiences 

Set up a regular newsletter to communicate with and provide value to audiences. 

Why: Newsletters can both build audiences and nurture them. A thoughtful newsletter serves as a cross-section of what you have to offer. It sits in that sweet spot between an expansive website and a sneak peek on social media. Additionally, remember that we might not always have the attention of our social media followers, but when it comes to newsletter opens we do have that attention. A newsletter is are a great way to engage with audiences outside of your primary audio content. 

Do: 

1. Highlight that you have a newsletter on your website—create a pop-up that invites visitors to join your mailing list. 
2. Incentivize new sign-ups—consider how you can provide value to your audience before they even interact with you. Folks love a free grab so even a simple (but valuable) downloadable PDF goes a long way. 
3. Be consistent–create a schedule, share it with your audience, and stick to it. For instance, if you’re stepping outside of your release or publishing schedule for whatever reason, take the time to let your audience know; the forethought will be appreciated. 

Don’t: 

1. Forget to check your open rate, click-through rate, and other analytics after you’ve sent a newsletter;
2. Forget to ask for feedback from your audience; 
3. Send too many emails or overcrowd your newsletter with too much content.  

Tools: 

A few useful tools when building this pillar include: 

• Automated mailing platforms, like Mailerlite and Mailchimp; 
• Content calendars, like those available on Hubspot for free; 
• Integration interfaces to link websites to mailing platforms, like Zapier and WPFusion. 

Read our blog on how to grow your audience with a newsletter to learn more.

Pillar 3: Social Media – offering sneak peeks into your content

Create a social media presence for your audio content to draw in and authentically engage with audiences. 

Why: Social media serves as the perfect place for creators to get a taste of what you have to say. A versatile tool, social media can complement your audio to share other facets of your art. Build this as you build your brand so audiences can see your progress from the start. 

Do:

1. Start with one social media platform–if you’d like to post more visual content, start with TikTok or Instagram. If you’re more interested in engaging in a dialogue, consider Twitter. Start with one and build from there. 
2. Be consistent with your publishing schedule–share your schedule with your audience so they know what to expect, and stick with it. Consider branding different types of content so the audience can distinguish between each. 
3. Remember to engage with them after posting content–stick around and check back in to see what they’re saying. This can serve as a great feedback loop, too. 

Don’t: 

1. Be afraid to be authentic; 
2. Forget to plug in your website and newsletter where relevant; 
3. Make it all about yourself. Make sure to repost from and engage with other content creators your audience would appreciate.  

Tools:

A few useful tools when building this pillar include: 

• Link indices like Linktree;  
• Content editorial calendars like Airtable; 
• Content schedulers like Buffer and Hootsuite;
• Graphic designing tools like Canva and Headliner. 

Pillar 4: Community-building Platforms – creating an inner circle 

Set up and engage with your audience on community-building platforms like Discord and Slack. 

Why: Some conversations are meant for the inner circle. Often when creating content, you’ll find certain members of the audience more engaged than others. These are the folks who should be invited to be a part of the conversation on platforms like Discord and Slack. When you’re ready to start monetizing, you can invite them to subscription-based platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi to get the ball rolling. 

Do: 

1. Keep things exclusive–if this is the inner circle, treat it as such. Keep certain topics specific to this segment of your audience.
2. Let them in–if you’ve got an idea you want to bounce off your broader audience, start with your inner circle. They’ll appreciate being in on the early part of your process. 
3. Start this as soon as you launch your audio project–create a Discord or Slack channel to start engaging outside of your audio content, right off the bat. This can serve as an incentive to be invited into. 

Don’t: 

1. Forget to regularly engage with this audience; 
2. Forget to welcome every new member with a special callout; 
3. Forget to invite collaborators, friends, and other audio creators into the mix. 

Tools: 

• Platforms like Discord, Slack, or for the Recordheads in the house, Recordical Digital; 
• Membership platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi; 
• Content editorial calendars like Airtable. 

Let’s get started

Now that you’ve got your four pillars of marketing ready, it’s time to turn up the volume on your audio journey. If you’re a Recordhead, read how you can set meaningful goals as an audio creator. If you’re not a Recordhead yet, find out how you can use Recordical to create high-quality audio.