"Where is the best place to market your product {and yourself}?"
While there is no one answer to this question, I think some places are better than others.
I believe owned channels are better than paid.
Paid advertising may get you quick cash, but it does not have the sustainability to create recurring revenue.
The best owned channels to market on are email/SMS lists, blogs, and communities not on social media.
Social media is an excellent place to begin marketing your product or service, but you need to take your audience to a more stable platform eventually.
To dig deeper, let's focus on marketing your product.
I believe the best way to accomplish this is through content.
- Appearing on other people's podcasts
- Writing a newsletter that shows your competence and product differentiation
- Writing a product-led blog helping solve problems through your product
Now let's turn to marketing yourself (which could be your product).
I think social media is a great place to start building your tribe.
It has far more resonance than a newsletter (People retweet far more than they forward emails).
But to increase your impact and validity as an expert, you need to take it off social media to a platform where you own the audience.
Examples of this are a newsletter, a podcast, or a video series you collect emails for (Wistia is a platform to do this through).
While you can build a brand on social media, the tangible value of building a tribe comes when you own it.
Many people who have thousands of followers are unable to generate revenue that matches their following.
As the great Drake states:
"All of y'all havin' more followers than dollars."
When you take your following to an owned channel, you will lose a significant amount of them, but you will drive far greater revenue in the future.
While it's easier to market on channels that are already established, nothing beats owning your audience and being able to sell directly to them.
Own your audience.
🧠 // JO