How to Grow Your Audience, Why Some People Struggle and Others Don't

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 189. Today we're talking about how to grow your audience, why some people struggle and others don't, and what to do instead. Are you ready? Let's dive in.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their product and services, and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and if this is the first time you're hanging out with me today, welcome. I'm super pumped that you're here. I'm laughing because it's currently really early on Sunday morning, and so you're probably, probably getting my morning voice. And I'm speaking rather low because I don't want to wake up my kids. So if this is the first time you're here, welcome. Let's just go ahead and dive in. So I recorded this episode today. It is inspired by some of the struggles I am hearing from both my jumpstart clients as well as my accelerator clients. And honestly, it's also coming from some of the things that I have been struggling with as I grow my audience. And I'm bringing this up because I want to personally thank one of my clients, Jonathan, and also Chris, who's part of the podcasting team and part of the BE Simpson fitness team, mostly because they continue to remind me how important it is to connect and to share some of the things that you are personally going through because it helps and inspires others. And I think it's so important. Two things. One, hire a mentor, hire a coach. Help someone, get. Bring someone into your world to help you identify your blind spots, because we all have them. And so I've recently joined a brand new mastermind for the end of this year going into the first quarter. And this is one of the things that she's been saying to me as well, is remembering that we're not just teachers. And I don't know about you, but for me, I identify as a teacher. It is so easy for me to teach, teach, teach. And yet when you don't share what your lessons are, some of the context for me, I feel like that's so boring. No one wants to know that because I'm always give me the strategy. When the truth is, when you share your stories, when you talk about what you. Where you are, what you're going through, what you learned, that is what connects people. And so it's so important for you to bring people into your business, whether you're hiring a team member and you need a team member to come and do and see and be really skilled at things that you aren't, to help you identify blind spots or. And you get a mastermind or a mentor, someone to help you go to the next level and listen. I'll also share with you. It's sometimes I have to be really open and continue to remind myself to stay open because it's just my nature to double down and dig my heels in this. The stubborn component of me, I guess, which I've never really identified as stubbornness. But yet I fight all the time. I fight. I fight for what I believe in. And I also, I fight for what I'm doing and I fight for being right. And that is both a blessing and a curse. And I'm going to talk today about how this pertains to growing your audience, why people struggle when others seem to not, and what to do instead. The reason why it's coming up for me, honestly, is because I started my Instagram account over and I still stand by what I said, which is that I started my account at a time where it was popular to do all the wrong things and I had a huge, massive pivot in my niche in what it is that I was providing value on. And it was time to change my account. So this is actually bringing me to point number one when it comes to growing your audience is that we really need to identify for you and in and for me, the clarity on what I'm talking about and when I define the word, when I, when I mentioned the word audience. So I'm going to define what audience means because it's probably not what you think it means, because most people associate audience with the word followers, and the truth is that they're not the same. You cannot take followers like shares, comments, engagement, all those popularity vanity metrics to the bank. You just can't. However, you also can't be the Internet's best kept secret. So of course you want to grow your audience. Of course you want to grow your followers. I'm not here to tell you that growing your followers is bad. I am here to share with you and to gut check you and remind you two things. Being an authority first comes from a decision to be One, there's someone out there right now who needs your expertise, needs your conviction, needs you to fight for what you believe in. To help them get started, to take the first step, help them start, do get healthy and fit, move without pain, whatever it is that you teach them to do. You don't have to be the best, the only one. You don't have to get it right. You just need to be one step ahead of the person that you're helping. So when you're double downing on your authority and your authority, once you know that you are, you know you have an authority, how you build it is through your expertise. So once you've made this decision, now we get to talk about being an expert. And people will interchange the words authority and expert when the truth is it's not really the same. They're not interchangeable. Unfortunately, though, the. The amount of followers that people have in their space oftentimes is a subconscious metric that people use to identify, oh, this person is an expert. And it's not, by the way, just followers. Think about doctors. Remember back in the day when all the doctors had to wear a white jacket and it signified it automatically, subconsciously connected people into believing that if you wore the white, white J, you were an expert, therefore an authority. But how many doctors do you know that you've personally worked with or your clients have worked with that have maybe set the person on the wrong path and listen, this is not me throwing shade at doctors. I know what doctors have to go through. I have lots of doctors in my family and in my life. I know what the, the circumstances that are put underneath that are put on top of doctors. And, and so this is not me throwing shade. This is me just exposing you to remember or shining a light on you to remember that, that doctors are humans too, and they're not an expert in everything. How many accounts can you point to on Instagram specifically, that have over, you know, a million followers, maybe 2 million followers that provide advice that you think are harming people? I mean, if you look at Biolane, for example, I mean, his whole account is literally designed to help you stop listening, or designed to help people, rather stop listening to harmful, harmful health and wellness behaviors that are out there and they're getting pushed out by people who have millions of followers. Why? Because people see followers and think, automatically think, oh, that person has an authority, which means that person must be an expert. But that is not the case. So I'm only bringing this up because, of course you want more followers. I'm not even. I'M not here to suggest that that's a bad or wrong thing. I'm just here to help you and help remind you that having a whole bunch of followers does not mean that you have an audience. It also does not mean that you're going to be making a whole bunch of money because you have followers on a whole ton of followers. I'm bringing this to your light. I'm bringing this to light because I want to remind you that you cannot take those followers to the bank. And, and having a whole bunch of followers doesn't mean, by the way, that you're going to have a whole bunch of engagement. It doesn't mean, by the way, that you're going to have, you're going to build multiple six figures in your business, or seven figures, or whatever your goals are because you have a ton of followers. But it's easy to fall into that trap because I get it, you cannot be the Internet's best kept secret. So first we have to identify what is the difference between an audience member and a follower. And so this also speaks to what I was going through. So right now, my account, I don't know what it looks like today, but right now on Instagram I have about 530 followers. And I started it technically, or 535. Right. I started it technically over in December, but it was about four months ago that I really just started doubling down and I switched my whole account over from my 16, 17,000 follower account over to, to this 500 person account. And so here's a couple of the pros. The couple of the pros is that every single day, whether I have a call to action on my post, to join my list, to come into my space, to send me a DM, I get DMs every day, inbound DMS. I have someone that comes on my email list without prompting or asking every single day, sometimes five, you know, five to 10, my engagement is up by, I can open my phone, I don't have it, but my engage is up by the thousands of percent. All of my metrics are trending upwards pretty consistently week after week, whether or not I post every single day or not. And I'm not living on the platforms. I mean, all of the metrics are trending upwards, which is a good thing. And I'm happy about that. It is actually outperforming my old accounts in terms of engagement, in terms of visibility, in terms of all the reasons that I wanted to have an Instagram account in the first place. Here's the thing. And the reason why I'm really happy with it is because I'm really doubling down on my message, on what it is that I'm here to do and how I'm here to serve health professionals. I don't want to be known just because I have a 17,000 follower account and I don't want to be known for mom fitness and I don't want to have that vanity metric to demonstrate authority and expertise. I want to be known for what it is I stand for in the marketing and messaging department in the health and wellness space. And so I know that anytime someone is in my world, they are. It's by their choice, by the way. I'm not, it's not fake, I'm not forcing them. Everyone has autonomy here and, and they're coming to my world, into my space because of my expertise based on what it is that I'm sharing. I'm not trying to be tricky or, or go viral by doubling down on trends in that way. I'm using the trends to share my message, to share what it is that I'm here to do and talk about and serve people on. And so that's, that's part of growing an audience. An audience is not just a follower, it's not just an audience member is someone who is coming into your store, who is getting value. Whether that value is clarity, whether that value is entertainment, whether that value is connection, whatever that value component, they're, they're hanging out in my space because it's valuable to them and it adds value to their life. Whether they're learning something, whether they're connecting on something and, or getting entertained by something entertained by something related to my message. So when you are growing those people, when you're growing that audience plus you have it combined with a back end offer that is also systematized so that you are consistently generating pre sold leads and moving them into this machine that you've built to then turn them into a customer. And it's, and it's done through a, your, it's done through your message and it's done through automation and done through a messaging process. Then you're going to save time and then you're going to grow a business. That's what it takes to grow the business, not just grow the followers. Because if you're always kind of trying to focus on followers, that's a, that's a sneaky vanity metric. And if you are only thinking about followers and you don't have the back end set up, that's like trying to fill A colander up with water. And you and I both know how effective that is. And so here's the thing that I want to offer to you that I, that I'm sharing based on my own experience and based on my own what I'm, what I'm going through as I do this is that if this is the first, this is, chances are this is probably not the first time you've heard this. And of course we all know it and we all consciously, you know, double tap it and go, yeah, you don't need a big following to make a business. Right? Just don't underestimate the power. Remember, remember not to underestimate the power of your subconscious. And I say this because when I started my account over I, it has taken a lot of mental energy for me to show up, up. And when I say show up, I mean show up powerfully because that's why some people and show up powerfully without my insecurities of, oh, you only have 500 followers. No one's going to listen to you. You only have 200 followers. Why should anyone believe you? You only have 200 followers. In fact, I even got a comment I shared with it somewhere and somewhere on the Internet or somewhere on in stories, someone said, oh yeah, great, why am I going to listen to business advice from someone with 200 followers? This is literally like, that was my fear, my subconscious was saying to me, even though I knew better. We all have these programming programs in our brain that takes effort. Think about your clients. I'm sure you've had these conversations with your clients about automation and how they're. That, that 95% of what we are doing in our day to day life is done on automation and run by the subconscious brain. The same thing is true for me. The same thing is true for you. This is why having a powerful team of people, whether it's a mastermind, a group coaching program or your team around to help identify blind spots and throw up the mirror for you to take a look at it. And this is honestly what's happening to me and what has happened to me. I know that it's happening. I've done this for a long time and I can look at it objectively and realize what's happening. Although I'm human, I'm human too. So I'm sharing this with you. So I want you to know that you're not alone and that I'm going through it too. And I continue to go through it too. And here's the, here's why some people struggle and why others don't, and what to do is that I'm looking at it, I know that it's happening, and I'm still making the decision to show up powerfully, even though I know there is a chance that people are going to be judging me in that way. And here's the thing about judgment, right? Is that we're judging people 100% of the time. Whether you're listening to this right now and thinking, yes, oh, my gosh, this speaks to me. I get this. Or you're thinking, oh, my gosh, this is trash, and this is awful. Why people win is because they know this. They. And they continue to choose to show up. To me, this is. This is one of the most empowering things that I could do for myself. What I could do for you and what I hope to share on to my children is that when you really. When you really look at the power of choice and look at no matter what your circumstances are, because, listen, we're all faced with circumstances that we did not love, that we did not want, and that we did not choose to be forced on us. However, from this moment on, it's an opportunity to make a choice that you can control, a choice in how you respond. And for me, when it comes to audience growth, and I know that I'm having that fear, that fear monster that comes up that's saying, you're not good enough because you don't have enough followers to even say what you're saying. I can look at it and say, honor that. I process that. I know that it's here. Thank you, Brain, for keeping me safe. I'm not going to ignore it and pretend that it's not here and then just, you know, go move towards relentless positivity because that's what they tell you to do in the. In the personal development state. I'm going to acknowledge it, and then I'm going to continue to choose again to show up because there's someone out there right now. I know because I look at hundreds of posts a day. There are coaches out there right now, and I see beautiful posts with their protocols. I see them working hard. I know how much time it took them to put a post up. And I can see and look at just a few key messaging components that I know if they had added into their post, it would draw people to go get on their list, draw people to send them a dm. It would draw people to say, hey, how can I work with you? And I'm here to serve and help those people. Because there are a ton of coaches out there right now who are probably less qualified than you who are listening to this show right now and they're making 50 to $100,000 per month even in this economy. And so, yeah, I do feel self conscious sometimes about sharing what it is that I want to share, even with whatever followers that I have. But I know that that is a dedicated audience of people to connect with. And right now, whether you have a hundred or a ten thousand or one thousand, if you can look out into that space like I do, and I think to myself, who can I serve today? This is what helps me get out of that imposter syndrome, by the way. And then when you can look and think, has every single 535 or 33 or 31 or whatever it is, people bought something from you today or ever. If the answer is no, then there is an opportunity there for you. And this is something I learned from my mastermind that I just recently joined, is that 3% of your audience is ready to buy something at any time, as long as it's an audience of people and not just followers, because you can buy followers. And what's interesting to me now is that my engagement is way through the roof, 10 times more than it was in my 17, 000 account. And in fact, my money has increased, not decreased, even with this change in the audience and in the followers. The other thing I want to remind you when it comes to growing your audience is that we're speaking specifically of Instagram right now. And that's me. I steered the conversation to that regard because that's what I'm going through. But that's not just your audience. Your audience doesn't only live in one place. Your audience lives in your email list. It lives in your podcast downloads, your YouTube watches, your TikTok, your, your Instagram, your Facebook. Your audience lives in all different places that you have grown and shown up in. So remember that there are invisible components of growing an audience, and make no mistake, you need one in order to grow a business. And so what happens to most people, however, is that they end up getting it backwards and they want to go for the audience first and then they'll come up with the offers. And quite frankly, I'm not going to lie to you, I think that that no wonder you do this, because we're taught to, you know, come up with the messaging and have the offer come from the messaging. So I get why it's easy to fall into the trap of wanting just grow an audience, grow an audience. Grow an audience and then let them tell you what they want and need. But the truth is, is that that's like asking your kids, what do you want for dinner? And they're going to tell you Mac and cheese, ice cream, all day, every day. For me, I teach my clients to really double down on a what it is that you want to talk about all day long, what it is you want to transform people's lives on that you know that they need. You're in the health and wellness space just by listening to this podcast. So we all re. You're not going to create something people don't need, need. I saw Ben Carpenter just the other day. He, he showed us a study that 50% of Americans are trying to lose weight in the, in the last 12 months. And at the time of this recording, if you're listening to an old day, it's September 25, 2022. I saw this from Ben Carpenter just yesterday. The point is, and I'm not saying, oh, great, now I need to lose weight. No, the point is that the majority of people are struggling to optimize their health. So there is a market for you, there is a problem and an opportunity for you to come and help people. So I teach people to really just double down on that first, make decisions there. And then their messaging is going to make a case for the next step. It's going to provide clarity. It's going to harness demand, demand that's already there because we're not convincing anybody of anything, removing any and all resistance, and then setting up our business in a way that it can, it can withstand, it can hone the length of the sales cycle, Let the sales cycle take what it takes, until it takes. So when you have that all set up and you know that it's working, you can start doing that now, Whether you have 10 followers, 100 followers, 500 followers, it doesn't matter. And once you start doing that, when you have that all done, your messaging comes from, that comes from the machine, then we start growing it. Then, then we start really doubling down on the audience growth because it's better to be known than it is to be popular. And this was something that I heard from Alex Hermosi, who heard it from Grant Cardone. He attributes the sentiment from Grant Cardone and, and it's true. You cannot buy from the Internet's best kept secret. You've heard me say that before. If you've. If this is not the first time that you are hanging out with me. This is why some people struggle, though, is that they end up chasing popularity metrics of know, like and trust unconsciously, and they don't realize that they're doing it. Here's the thing about no like and trust that people don't like to talk about subconsciously. We hear this all the time. And so then people share their vulnerable stories. They start to teach, teach, and they start to, you know, share who they are. Because people connect with people and it's stuff that the gurus are telling you. But what you need to understand the truth about know, like and trust as it pertains to a business. And you are a business, a service provider, but you're still a business. The trust component is not trusting you as a good person. It's trust that you can deliver on what it is you said that you can do. It's a belief in your offer. It's a belief in you. And then if you want to close the sales cycle, demonstrate that your client needs to believe in themselves. And then they need to believe that they need it now because the consequence of not getting started is worse. The pain is worse than the pain of staying where they are now. People move away from pain faster than they move towards pleasure. This is not the same as fear mongering, by the way. We are not putting people in pain. We are shining the light on the truth that is already there. The no. 1 like factor. It's about being visible and it's about being liked for your message. It's about being liked for what it is that you stand for because it helped them as it pertains to getting the outcome. Because here's the truth of the matter. If you're listening to this podcast and you're listening to the show and you're hanging out with me, I already know that you're a good person. I don't attract people who are awful. That's why I talk about no lack and trust in the way that I do. Because I don't want you to fall for the trap of feeling like you have to share every little nitty gritty ins and outs of what's happening inside of your life in order to make money on the Internet. You don't have to. And maybe you're listening to this and saying, beverly, you started this podcast by saying you need to share more, you need to connect more. Yeah, but I'm not sharing sharing with you who my favorite band is. I'm not sharing with you what my favorite color is. I'm not sharing you with you what I like to eat on, on, you know, on Tuesdays I mean, I guess there could be a case made for it, but I'm sharing with you the stories that pertain to you that help you see that you're not alone, help you know that where you are right now, there's hope. Now I'm gonna show you what's possible on the other side. Yeah, sometimes I share my kids, mostly because anyone who works with me needs to know that I have children because they're part of my coaching experience. And not everyone likes that. And that's okay. That's why you get to see my children. And I've also shared on Instagram, if you follow me over there, that. That I'm starting to. It's hard, but I'm starting to reduce the amount of time I put them on the Internet. On the Internet, because they're getting older and they're going to have. I want them to have their own choice and be able to show up in the way that they want to show up as they get older. There's such a powerful part of my life, so I had to remind myself that this is what I'm doing. Everything that goes inside of my socials as it pertains to my audience is to connect, help and serve my audience. Because my mom, my husband, they're my number one supporters. They're my best friends. They're the ones that are always. And I have a ton of friends that follow me and support me and love me. They don't buy from me. They're not my customers. They're not part of my audience. And don't get me wrong, I love my clients. I love my customers. And I love and I. And I care deeply about the people I serve in that regard. It's just one of the things to remember. And this is why I say no like. And trust is a sneaky popularity metric because. Because sometimes being a good coach means that you have to say things that your client doesn't want to hear. And it's coming from a place of love. But if you're working on being liked, sometimes it's hard to do that. And unconsciously, if you're trying to be liked and be popular, that's not the same as coaching and eliciting behavior change, because that's going to sometimes take uncomfortable conversations. And you have to be okay to hear that and facilitate that and go through that. This is why I say all the time, I'm not here to be liked. I'm here to get results. And it comes from a deep place of loving my people. And honestly, it Keeps me up at night when my client isn't getting the results that they want. So it comes from a loving place to serve and to help people get out of their own way to say yes to themselves and make the impact that you want to make. Okay, so this is a how to. So let's just go ahead and get, get into the steps. I know I've given you a lot of blah, blah, blah in context, but it's important. So why people struggle? People struggle because, number one, they tend to unconsciously chase popularity metrics without even realizing it. Popularity is not the same as visibility. Sometimes being visible and helping people make change means that you won't always be popular. You'll have to say the unpopular opinions. You have to stand for something. You have to help people stop doing what it is that they're doing now, because if it worked, then there wouldn't be a problem. That's number one. And then number two, because of that unconscious chase to be popular, to grow followers, people tend to go viral or they tend to create content that doesn't pertain to their message, doesn't pertain to helping people go through a process, a messaging process, to remove any and all resist resistance, to provide clarity, to, to help them stop struggling. That's number two. So that's why people struggle. They end up doing all these trend dancing things going viral. And then why that sucks is because the Instagram algorithm, or whatever algorithm that is there, it says, oh my gosh, you got all these followers then. And then they push out your content. And then if the followers are there and they're not there for your message, for what you stand for, then. And unfortunately they don't unfollow you. Honestly, if they do unfollow you, good, that's even better. But most of the time they actually don't. So they end up just staying there in their dead accounts. And then Instagram algorithm goes, oh, not valid, and then pushes your content down. Doesn't matter how good your content is, Instagram's algorithm, for better, for worse, gets to decide what's relevant for their platform. And now before we get twisted, let's not, let's remind ourselves that this is free marketing. And then also that the algorithm is not out to get you. Just double down on the, on the value that you bring for your audience, not for followers. And then this is on. This probably should be a whole nother episode. But then what happens and why people struggle is that because people try to be too general. And honestly, this is something I struggle with too I'm not gonna lie to you. I have spent so many years in this, in this industry. I have done this for so long. It is easy. I have tried everything. So then what happens is we subconsciously go, oh, everything works because all roads lead to Rome. And I want to help everyone. But when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Specificity is that laser beam, it's going to cut through the noise, going to help you stand out, be that. Go to person. So when you are too general, if it's just like screaming in the echo chamber. So the people who are successful are the people who follow these steps. So this is how you do it, how to grow your audience. Number one, make a decision on being an authority. You know what it is that you are an authority and here to help people on. Number two, what do you want to make a decision on what it is that you want to talk about all day, every day, day. And then number three, draw a line in the stand. What is it that you stand for? And. And encourage yourself to get specific specificity can live in three places. The problem. What is the specific problem your people are going through? What is the specific way that you solve the problem? And three, what is the specific tangible outcome? Now, here's the thing. Just, just hear me on this. I know so many of you because I've worked with. You have intangible those things that seem what people would call soft outcomes. I get it. So layer it up with a tangible outcome so that they know. So answer. How do they know when they feel better? And then keep adding value. Value with your content. And what that means is. And I'm saying add value in quotes because you hear that all the time. And then people. And then you subconsciously go, okay, yeah, add value. But then how you're left like, wait, what does that mean? And how do I do that? Provide clarity. The Internet is so clustering. People are inundated with information. It's like that scene in Harry Potter where they get all the leads, the. All the, all the letters that just come flying in to his house. This is what it's like when people go onto the Internet to try and solve their problems. Problem, do you provide clarity? You entertain in a way that you, you show up, be you. You create demand, harness demand that's already there to taking the next step. That's adding value. And then just keep showing up and then stay consistent and consistency. You get to define what that means. And I'm just a personal fan of doubling down on what you know that you're capable of because you teach people. You teach the algorithm how you show up. That's what consistency means means. And so if you have a visceral reaction to posting every single day, let's unpack that for you. Really ask yourself what is the resistance? Is the resistance that you're spending three hours a day and nothing's happening? Is it that you literally just do not have the time and you're a coach, not a content creator? Well, that's another episode. So if this was helpful for you, it'd be a huge favor to me if you would do two things. Leave us a five star review on Apple. This helps us us share our message and get our message out to more high level, sophisticated fitness, health and wellness professionals. Number two, Go ahead. If you like this episode, please screenshot it and tag me inside of the socials on Instagram at B. Simpson Fitness. Share with me your favorite takeaway. So share with me your favorite takeaway. That'd be a huge favor to me. Help us grow and get the word out of this show. And if you're ready to go deeper and go further with us inside of your business and inside of these Simpsons and fitness right now we've got a ton of promotions going on, so just go ahead and send me a DM and we can talk about your best next steps. So thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I'll catch you on the next episode.

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