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Overcoming Your Fear of What People Might Think – Ep 102

Worrying about what other people think of us is a real problem for entrepreneurs putting themselves out there. Here’s why pleasing your peers might leave you broke.

Your Peers Usually Aren’t Your Customer

You may be very close to a group of your peers and worry about what they might think of you as you put yourself out there, which is a common fear. You don’t want to be scammy or smarmy in your marketing, but the message you have is for your online community, your paid customers- not your tribe of friends. It’s important to remember when you’re getting out there to talk to your ideal customer, you need to test your messages with paying customers and people who will buy from you and not with well-meaning friends. If your peers are in the same business as you, they might make great partners and may refer business to you that doesn’t fit their customer profile, but this will only happen if you are strategic about it.

Popularity and Likability Don’t Pay Your Bills

It’s important to cultivate relationships with peers because it can have a direct effect on your income. Just having friends and followers without a clear product or message will only get you goodwill and not the customers you need to thrive. Putting yourself out there and associating yourself with a product can feel risky or subject you to criticism, but you can’t make everyone happy all the time. In the end, it’s still good to put yourself out there. Evaluate if your followers are the perfect customer and if they are clear on how to work with you.

Demonstrate Your Expertise

It’s not just a one-time thing. You need to be clear about what you offer and to whom. This way your friends and tribe can recommend you. Think of people you know that have an online presence? You may like lots of these people, but which of them would you recommend to a friend asking for help in their area of expertise? Ask yourself what people think you do. Reach out and ask friends directly what they think you do. Clarity and demonstrated expertise are more important than popularity. 

People Probably Aren’t Paying Attention to You

Most of the time, people aren’t paying attention to your marketing efforts due to platform algorithms or otherwise. Personally invite your people to pay attention to what you’re doing and draw their attention to your marketing efforts. 

You Need a Clear Marketing Plan

You need a marketing plan. We talked about this in Episode 72, where we first shared our Quick Start worksheet for your online community. You can download it below in the Take Action section. The Quick Start worksheet gives you a plan and helps you to get clear on who you’re trying to reach and what tactics and strategies you need to do to do that. It really helps to keep the goal in mind and not get stuck going down a rabbit hole of fear of criticism from someone who isn’t your ideal customer. Be clear on who you are trying to reach and how you will do it.

“If you do get criticism from an ideal customer, consider it a gift.”

If you do get criticism from an ideal customer, consider it a gift, then get over your fear with a plan. Don’t play a numbers game trying to hit up as many people as possible in your marketing and always reply to all responses you get from your marketing efforts. It’s incredibly important to have a plan in place and follow it. 

Links Mentioned:

Quick Start Plan for Your Online Community in 2019 – Ep 72

Strategies for Staying Connected Through Social Media with Tyler J. McCall – Ep 68

Take Action

Download our Quick Start worksheet to create a strategy that will help you to stay the course as you market your ideas, and give you the confidence to move forward, no matter how worried you get about what others think.

Also listen to Communities That Convert Episode 72 for more instructions on how to use the form.

Add your name and email in the spaces below and we will automagically forward you the Quick Start Worksheet. We will also send you emails with our latest episodes (unsubscribe anytime).

How to reach Kami:

If you’d like to learn more about Kami Huyse, visit her website at www.zoeticamedia.com. You can contact her by email at kami@zoeticamedia.com or tweet to @kamichat.

How to reach Madalyn:

If you’d like to learn more about Madalyn Sklar, visit her website at www.madalynsklar.com. You can contact her by email at madalyn@madalynsklar.com or tweet to @MadalynSklar.

Join Our Community

We have a new community on Facebook. We will extend the conversation from each episode and deliver bonus content. Sign up for our email list at http://bit.ly/CTCVIP to get an invitation to join or just click the “Join Our Free Community” below to head straight to Facebook (shhh. The codeword is ACTION)!

 

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