How to sell to a cold audience and turn them into fans
Attracting new leads is a challenge.
Lots of tire kickers join the list, CPL keeps climbing, and the list goes on… but in general, what can change this picture the most is one “simple” move: turning a cold audience into fans.
In other words, getting people who don't know you to see you as an authority.
Simple in quotes, because it takes strategy and a lot of work to make it happen. You need to:
The results, however, make the effort worth it. Matheus Benatti, CEO of Cademí, with more than a decade of experience in digital marketing, explains.
"When Hotmart came to Brazil, I was doing affiliate marketing for physical products. I noticed the commissions there were much better, so we moved over. But it was hard to sell because of the quality of the products available at the time. The solution was to start producing our own," he explains. "We became co-producers and practically founded the makeup niche."
According to him, there were more than 110,000 students and many courses live. To choose the experts, there was only one question: does she have fans?
"Back then I knew nothing about copy, traffic, launch strategy... and we still made millions. We were among the first to hit a million in revenue. And that's down to this one detail. We didn't look at follower counts or anything else, just whether they had fans or not."
In this article, we've gathered tips to help you follow that same path with your online business: turning a cold audience into fans and selling a lot more.
What a cold audience is and why you should sell to it
In short, a cold audience is people who don't know you or your online business yet. To them, you're a complete stranger. A cold audience can also include people who:
- Don't feel the pain you solve yet;
- Feel the pain but don't prioritize solving it;
- Haven't come across your content;
- Don't trust you yet.
Working with this audience sounds challenging, right? That's exactly why it can be so powerful: your competitors have probably “forgotten” about them. To keep them from ending up as tire kickers, the goal is to turn them into fans.
First of all, you need trust
Unlike the example in this article, you won't be picking an expert who already has fans. You'll build your own base of superfans. Which, again according to Matheus Benatti, starts with building trust.
“I'll use the diamond funnel strategy as an example. We spent two years studying the digital market to understand how our Cademí customers could sell more while spending less. The answer was the cold audience. The challenge was winning those people over. We landed on a formula with three classes.”
The goal is for students to know, trust and like you. Otherwise, it would be like proposing to a complete stranger.
For someone to trust you, you need to:
- Deliver value;
- Create an emotional connection;
- Show authority.
You can do this using well-known digital marketing strategies, such as lead magnets and testimonials. The secret, according to Matheus, is how you do it.
It has to feel natural and come across as organic.
“One of the things that makes the diamond funnel work so well is the setting where the classes are offered. It's not a sales setting, and that counts for a lot.”
So avoid sounding like a salesperson.
Be a guide
Whatever setting your business is in, working with a cold audience requires you to act as a true guide.
Remember: they don't know they need your solution yet, or they don't care that much.
So it's up to you to make them see the problem. And here's the golden tip: don't point out what they already know, but what they haven't noticed yet. In other words, show them what they lose by not solving a problem they don't see as that important.
For example, picture an online business for travelers that teaches how to use airline miles. People who travel and don't collect miles probably already know they're missing out. But they don't think it's important enough to “waste time” or spend money on.
Your messaging shouldn't be about the miles themselves, but about the experiences they make possible. What do they lose by not collecting miles (other than the miles themselves)?
Next, the challenge is to walk them through the journey that leads them to become your fan and then buy from you.
Here, the copy and the offer are the two key points. In the diamond funnel, this is one of the most important parts, and customers who apply the strategy are getting amazing results.
So don't waste time: take the first step on this detail that will change your game!
