8 ways to market your business without social media

More and more I am hearing from folks who are working hard to get OFF social media. 

But then you hear all these business gurus tell you that you need to be on social media for your business, making Reels, dancing around on TikTok, staying up to date on hashtag strategies, and following whatever the next trend is that will help you make it big.

But is social media really necessary?

I won’t deny the power that social media CAN have for your business. It’s worked for lots of people, obviously!

But is it really the best way for a NEW coach to market? Especially if that coach hates social media and doesn’t want to be on it??

No, obviously not.

If you loathe social media or just want to spend way less time there, here are 8 other ways you can market your business that don’t rely on being on social media.

 

** But first, a caveat: 

While I don’t recommend creating content for social media as a strategy, the one thing I do recommend using social for, if you can bear it, is for connecting with people. It’s one of the main ways I message and stay in touch with friends and colleagues in my industry, etc, and for that reason alone it is sometimes worth staying on social, even if you don’t post anything. 

The networking possibilities are incredible (and introvert friendly!) and don’t take a lot of time and can help you build real relationships with people who could become referral partners, colleagues, and friends. You will see what I mean in the examples below.

 

Here are 8 ideas for marketing without social media:

 

1. Networking: 

Attend local networking events, conferences, and workshops to meet other business owners. Be prepared to talk about your business (ie. make sure you have a niche and can clearly explain what you do!). You don’t need business cards, but this is where being on social media can be super helpful. Follow anyone you meet who you think might be a good referral partner or someone you could collaborate with, and send them a DM the next day to say it was since meeting them. Simply making that connection and having an easy, casual way to chat with them is so great.

You can also do this networking online by joining business programs and investing some time into getting to know the other people in it, or by finding any online networking opportunities that exist. For example, my town does a monthly zoom call for local businesses. Everyone just introduces themselves and what they do, and asks for any help they need to the group.

The more that people know who you are and what you do, the more chance there is for referrals. Think of it like planting little seeds everywhere. Not everyone you meet will directly equate to getting a client, but the more seeds the better to help you spread the word.

 

2. Referrals:

Ask your family, friends, people from your coaching school, and any current clients for referrals. 

This is where having a niche is super powerful. If you can go back to your coach program and say “Hey friends, I am now doing [insert this very specific thing] with my coaching business and I have room for 3 more clients. If you know anyone who struggles with [this very specific thing], I’d love for you to pass on my name!” – it’s likely they may know someone OR will at least remember you for if they meet someone down the road. SO different than if you are just a general coach who isn’t niched.

This is also where networking and meeting more people comes in very handy. The more people you know and stay connected to, the more you can ask for referrals.

This is also where being on social media, even if you aren’t creating any content there, is handy. For example, my coaching school has a Facebook group. That would be a great place to go in and share your new niche and let people know that you are taking referrals.

Our students in Uncage Your Business always get referrals from each other — this is the power of being in a group program where EVERYONE hears you talking about your business in a clear, compelling way, over and over and over again.

 

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3. Free coaching sessions:

Doing a blitz of free coaching is an incredible way to build some buzz for your coaching and help you build up a list of potential clients. Decide you are going to offer 30 free sessions to focus on X thing (make sure X thing is very specific)

Coach your ass off in those sessions and offer incredible value. Do not sell anything. Then, the next day, after the session, follow up and summarize what you worked on and any homework or anything you left the client to do after the session. Let them know you’ll follow up soon to see how it’s going.

Then, a week later (mark it in your calendar so you don’t forget), shoot them an email to check in on them and see how it’s going, AND let them know that you love doing this kind of work with people and that they would be the perfect fit to be your client. Very briefly (like one sentence) outline what you’d work on together, making sure to use the same language THEY used during your call together… and invite them to be your client.

Of course, not everyone will say yes. In fact, most will say no. But learning to put yourself out there and make offers to people is SO important in your new business, and the more you do it the more comfortable you will feel with it (and the more clients you will get!)

 

4. Collaborate with other professionals:

Partner with other businesses that serve a similar audience but do something different. For example, you can mention each other’s services in your newsletter or in a blog post on your website. You can do a free training for each other’s audiences. You can teach a joint workshop or class together and each bring your own expertise to the topic.

Again (don’t hate me), this is where social CAN be handy to form those connections with other people in your industry to eventually collaborate with. 

 

5. Create evergreen niched content:

Share your expertise by writing VERY niched in content sharing your point of view about the problems your clients have and what they can do about them. Use this content to show them that you have a solution they haven’t tried before. This should be a blog post or video on a platform that generates SEO (like YouTube).

One of our students recorded a 6min video talking about a topic relevant to her niche (using their exact language), and put it on YouTube, Nothing fancy, no special production. Just her talking to her computer. Because the content speaks directly to her clients and offers them a perspective they haven’t heard before, it has done incredibly well for getting her clients over time. It’s been viewed over 100k times, and has over 650 comments (most saying “you are reading my mind! This is exactly how I feel!”). And this one video still brings her about 80% of her new consultations.

The best part is, she made it 5 years ago and it just sits there, collecting views as people search for their problem in Google. This is what we mean by “evergreen” content. Content that you create once and stays online and does the work for you.

Of course, this is a longer game, but again, think of it like planting seeds! Every super piece of niched content you put out there is spreading more roots back to your work.

 

6. Pitch yourself for podcasts in your niche

Getting yourself in front of an audience that already exists is a HUGE way to build traction when you are new. Go out and find 10 podcasts that are relevant to your niche and pitch yourself to be a guest. Come up with a topic that shares your point of view about something relevant to their audience. Podcasters need guests and they love when someone has an interesting story or point of view to share! And they almost always let you share where their listeners can connect with you at the end of the show.

Building a relationship with the podcast host first is always going to get you more yes’s, and this is where social can come in handy as a direct way to connect with businesses that have podcasts and build that relationship organically. But you can also just go right to pitching – go you! Expect some no’s, it’s totally normal. But the more you pitch, the more yes’s  you will get and the more exposure you will get to your target audience

 

7. Speak at events:

Speak at events, such as conferences or local meetings, to share your expertise and your message.

I’ll admit, this one is terrifying for me and I would always rather be on a webinar teaching to thousands of people than stand in a room of 20 and present in person. But if speaking is your jam, do it!

This is where networking and knowing what is happening in your local entrepreneur community is helpful to help you find opportunities for speaking.

 

8. Host a free talk

Take it upon yourself to create an event. It can be low key, like at a coffee shop or yoga studio. Make it a super specific and relevant topic and use language that people would see and think “holy shit I need that”  (ie. “How to get your teenagers to stop hating you” vs “How to authentically relate to your family”)

Of course, you can also do this online in a webinar-style training with slides, or just a simple zoom video room where you host the talk and discussion.

Again, SEEDS! Will doing one talk fill your client list? I mean,  maybe!! You never know, go rock the shit out of it and show people that they have a problem that you can help them with! But more likely, it’s another packet of seeds you are sprinkling around, getting the word out, getting better at sharing what you do, putting you in the mind of all those people who came to your talk so they know that you are the one to go to for X problem.

 

When you are new to business, whether you want to use social media a lot, a little (for connecting), or not at all, it is ALL about hustling. You need to be spreading your seeds far and wide and in many different ways, to see what grows roots.

It doesn’t really matter HOW you do it, you just need to be doing it.

• Consistently putting yourself out there
• Making offers
• Connecting with new people
• Taking chances

These things are the name of the game when you are new.

Once you start to see which strategies worked best for YOUR business, you can keep doing more of those things and you can create a more reliable and consistent strategy.

But for now, go do all the things and start to see which seeds stick!

 

NEED HELP FINDING YOUR NICHE AND FIGURING OUT HOW TO STAND OUT FORM THE THOUSANDS IN YOUR INDUSTRY?

 

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