Move your readers from feeling cold towards you, your brand and your blog, to being fully engaged and becoming raving fans.
Why audiences start out cold
One reason your readers may be cold to begin with is you’re trying to attract people who are incredibly distracted. Even if they find their way onto your blog, they might be doing other things at the same time—watching television, answering messages on their phone, or contending with kids asking about dinner. It’s the reality of the world we live in.
They might also be a little bit suspicious of us and what we’re saying. They might be sceptical about what we’re talking about and whether it’s relevant to them. Again, it’s the reality of the world we live in. With so many ‘experts’ making false claims, it’s natural to be suspicious at first.
Of course, they may be at the other end of the attention spectrum where they’re just clicking one link after another.
And then there’s the short attention span a lot of people seem to have these days. How can they possibly warm up to your site when they’re only there are a few seconds before moving onto the next one?
Cold readers – how do we ‘warm them up’?
Stage 1: Let people know you exist
When we start our blogs, no-one knows they exist. When you hit ‘publish’ on your first post, no-one know it is there.
You have to face the massive challenge of going beyond your circle of influence and telling more people about your blog – email marketing, social media marketing – you name it! It has to be done, so to influence and engage more people, leads, clients.
Stage 2: Get people interested in what you’re saying
Getting people to your blog or podcast is one thing. Keeping them there is another.
Next challenge: getting them interested. Because unless they become interested in what you’re doing and what you have to say they’re never going to connect and become engaged.
Listen to your clients needs and engage with what they are interested, in the moment!
Stage 3: Make a connection
So you’ve managed to get them interested enough to listen to what you’re saying. They may even be thinking, “Wow, that’s really interesting”. But now they’re done, and ready to leave your site. There’s no incentive for them to stick around because they haven’t connected with you on any level.
You need to make a connection with them. It could be through email, through social media, or even by accepting their business card at a real-life event. But what you’re really getting is permission to contact them again.
Stage 4: Get your readers/listeners engaging with you
Congratulations! You’ve started making connections with your readers/listeners. But while getting permission to contact them is great, you want them to be contacting you as well.
In other words, you want them to engage with you.
You have to be persistent in your content and constant with comments, feeds, and push your audience button to engage, engage, engage.