Welcome, side-hustlers!
Launching your side hustle is a big achievement… don’t get me wrong.
But what happens next?
The real work starts when the wheels hit the road and the grind begins. That’s when your idea sinks, swims, or even worse – floats on the surface going nowhere.
So while starting is courageous, learning how to grow your side hustle is the rewarding part.
That’s why AMPLIFY is a core pillar of our Freedom Code formula for launching and growing a side hustle – it’s also the focus of this week’s newsletter.
Amplify is all about accelerating your reach and accessing a wider audience. It’s the growth lever of your side hustle that puts your idea in front of more people.
To help you amplify your side hustle, we’ve gathered the most important stats, insights, and tactics from the world of digital business growth. These are the trending tactics working right now – not an entire growth strategy.
Disclaimer: Be warned… you have to spend a little money to reap the rewards. “Organic” growth is slow and, to be honest, a MYTH. No business has gone from side to main hustle without investing money in marketing.
What you can expect this week
- Trends. Want to know where to get the cheapest traffic by channel, platform, and industry? We’ve done the research for you.
- Strategies. We analyze trending strategies for amplifying your side hustle including advocacy marketing, snackable content, and more.
- Tool of the Week. This is where we take a look at a tool that can help you amplify your business and connect with more customers.
So, get yourself comfy on the couch, and let’s get hustling!
Trends
There are literally hundreds of ways you can promote your side hustle, all of which have varying degrees of success depending on your budget, industry, skills, and numerous other intangibles. Paid advertising is the most measurable alternative when you’re just starting to grow, because it is supported by years of data that will aid in optimization.
While the following stats and trends aren’t exhaustive, they provide some interesting insights into the cost of advertising by channel, platform, and industry. This is not to say that you should immediately invest in the cheapest option – cheap traffic isn’t always the best.
You should consider other factors such as where your customers are active and how much traffic converts, as well as what your goals are. But for now, take a look at this research and see where it takes you.
Online vs Offline
Comparing the cost of advertising (per thousand impressions) between online and offline channels.
The advent of the Internet has significantly reduced the cost of advertising for businesses, while improving targeting options at the same time.
Compared to direct mail, for example, which is highly specific and squarely focused on conversions, the cost of online advertising is as much as 50 times lower.
This makes online advertising extremely affordable and attractive for businesses of all sizes and stages of growth, including brand-new startups or one-person side hustles.
Online Platforms
Comparing the cost of reaching a thousand people via online advertising platforms.
The cheapest of the major platforms for reaching the widest possible audience, is the Google Display Network, which allows you to advertise on millions of websites and apps around the world, plus Google-owned properties, such as YouTube and Gmail.
Interestingly, the most expensive platform is also Google, namely Google Search. Why such a difference? The answer is: user intent.
Advertising on Google Search allows you to reach people while they search for specific goods or services. However, by advertising on the Display Network, you are trying to reach people who are not necessarily searching for your product.
In other words, while on Google Search your ads are trying to directly satisfy a user’s intent, on the Google Display Network you are trying to grab their attention while they are doing something else.
As you can see from the numbers above, the latter costs much less. It is also much less effective if your goal is to sell. So, why bother with Google Display?
Because Google Display (and social media advertising) is great if your objective is to raise brand awareness and for reaching your prospects in the earlier stages of your potential customers’ buying journey.
Comparing the cost of referring traffic to your website via online advertising platforms.
Unlike the cost of reach, which represents the dollar amount to get you in front of your target audience, the cost of traffic represents the dollar amount it costs you to get them to click on your ad. It is a function of the responsiveness of your audience and the cost of the platform you are using.
Twitter comes on top, by a significant margin, when it comes to the cost of traffic. On average, it is 43% cheaper than the second cheapest platform (Google Display) and almost 14 times cheaper than the most expensive LinkedIn.
Does this mean you should always advertise on Twitter? Well, you should certainly test it!
However, whether it’s your best option depends on many other factors. In terms of metrics, you will want to monitor at least two numbers:
- Cost of Acquisition – how much it costs to acquire a new customer (make the sale), taking into consideration all your expenditures.
- Customer Lifetime Value – the total amount of money the customer will spend with you over the entire duration of your relationship.
Comparing the cost of someone clicking on your ad via online platforms.
Click-through rate is the percentage of people who click your ad, out of all the people who see it. It represents the responsiveness of each platform and tells us how engaged the visitors are on average.
Pinterest is the leader, with Twitter and Google Search not far behind. While Google Search has the advantage of showing ads that meet search intent, both Pinterest and Twitter clearly do a good job at keeping their users engaged.
Most other major platforms prefer to keep their users on the platform, which negatively affects click-through rates to 3rd-party websites.
Of course, the above charts represent average numbers across all content on the platforms. There are significant differences across industries, audiences and types of offers.
Below are just some numbers for individual industries on 3 platforms: Google Search, Google Display and Facebook.
Industries
Comparing the cost of referring traffic to your website depending on the industry and platform.
Strategies
Let’s dive into the growth strategies that are working for side hustle businesses the world over.
Build an Army of Loyal Brand Advocates
A well-thought-out and planned advocacy marketing program is an amplification strategy on steroids!
It’s a collaboration between you and your biggest fans – having them share content directly to their personal channels, highlighting your services, and enabling your business to get a much higher organic reach rate than a brand-owned social message.
It’s a way for your most enthusiastic customers to become brand advocates, with you encouraging them to share positive experiences with others through a carefully curated marketing plan.
The goal is to use advocacy marketing to amplify the voices of your customers that are already invested in your brand. Think of it as a style of “word of mouth” marketing.
The more advocates you have in your program the more personal social channels you could appear on. On average an advocate has the ability to connect with around 600 people. This means if you have 100 advocates as part of your program, you could reach 60,000 potential new customers. If 1,000 advocates share your messaging, you’re up at 600,000 people that could see your content.
A study by Nielsen showed that 66% of people trust the opinions of other consumers they find online and value their opinion. These trusted advocates of brands dictate where people spend their money, meaning, investing in advocacy marketing can drive new business.
So what do you need to do to create an advocacy marketing plan? Here we break down the best ways of targeting your desired demographic in an engaging and genuine way.
Who is an ideal advocate for your brand?
Don’t say everyone!
To start off an advocacy marketing program, you need to develop a clear understanding of your ideal advocate.
Look at your previous buyers, repeat buyers and people who interact with your social channels regularly. What content are they loving? What keeps them engaged? What consistencies do you find amongst them?
You want to invest in people that will not only join your program but who resonate with what your story is.
What content is important to your advocates?
When you have identified your ideal advocates, you need to find out what you think best motivates them. What inspires them? What engages them? What do they value? These questions will allow you to create a strategy that resonates with your advocates as well as future customers.
How will you incentivize and reward advocates?
If you expect advocates to regularly share your content and be all-around promotional rockstars, you need to decide how you will reward them. Rewarding advocates will encourage them to be more involved which means more eyes on your business.
Kantha Bae is an all female-run side hustle that escalated dramatically, specializing in bohemian style clothing. They focused strongly on building a group of like-minded individuals that all share similar beliefs and ideas. Advocates are given their own promotional code in which they can advertise how they want. When a person uses the advocate’s personalized code to purchase online, the advocate is rewarded.
Kantha Bae also has a private Facebook group where avid lovers of their products share clothing inspiration, show outfits they have paired with Kantha Bae, and participate in live videos or polls.
How will you optimize your program and grow participation?
A “launch and leave” program is not going to help you progress. You need to create an advocate program with the mindset that you are setting yourself up for long term success. You need to be learning from insights given, information received and amending strategies based on feedback. From verbal feedback like surveys and focus groups to non-verbal, like metrics on social media.
Decide what success looks like for your advocacy marketing program. Do you have a set of KPIs that you wish to hit? Perhaps set yourself earned media value targets, sharing rate goals, and an audience size reach so you know how best to support your team in achieving the targets set.
Once your goals are written down and your program has launched, aim to prioritize how you will market your business to your biggest fans. Educate them that the program exists so they can join. Set aside time for a recruitment strategy that will drive awareness. Email blasts, organic and paid ads on social media, influencer marketing, links on websites and social as well as sending details with purchases can target true loyal fans that want to be involved and help you grow.
How will you support your advocacy program over time?
Strategies that involve long term planning may seem daunting, but they will save you a lot of hassle, stress and frustration in the long run.
To have a long term advocacy plan you need to nurture and look after your loyal advocates. The more you interact with them and engage with their content the more loyal they will be. You will also need to consider putting money towards creating a plan that involves compelling incentives or prizes. Make them feel special and you will be rewarded!
Further Reading:
- Advocacy Marketing 101: Developing a Successful Advocacy Marketing Program Strategy (SocialToaster): Developing a successful advocacy marketing program takes strategy, foresight, and a key understanding of your audience. Are you set up for success?
Don’t Forget The Micro-Influencer!
With all this chat about advocacy marketing, we also need to talk about micro-influencers.
You don’t need to be a huge company to have influencers promoting your products. Micro-influencers are an effective niche in the market that are affordable. So don’t worry if your budget doesn’t fit an #ad from a Kardashian, micro-influencers are a better investment than standard advertising as they allow your brand to get more visibility.
Micro-influencers have smaller spheres of influence on social media, however, have up to seven times more engagement with followers than larger accounts.
There is a high demand in the internet universe for content that is authentic. Followers and customers want a clear sense of “who” the business is and what drives them. By using micro-influencers it allows for ongoing dialogue and connection with potential customers, establishing an honest, real rapport. If done well, it can lead to purchases and customer loyalty.
When it comes to picking a micro-influencer, choose someone who aligns with your brand and ethos. Looking through dedicated members of your advocacy strategy could be a fantastic way to find micro-influencers, as you already know they are invested in your product. It may be tempting to hire someone with a big following, but the engagement levels are far more important.
Here is an example of micro-influencer post from @signedbyroxci:
Further Reading:
- Micro-Influencer Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide (HubSpot): You’ve heard of influencer marketing, but have you heard of micro-influencers? Learn more about the new social media advertising strategy all over Instagram.
- Celebrity Influencers vs Micro-Influencers: Which Is Best For You? (JeffBullas.com) This post takes an in-depth look at the pros and cons of both micro influencers and celebrity influencers for entrepreneurs and businesses.
Create Bite-Sized (Snackable) Content
Everyone loves snacks right? Small, tasty bite-sized morsels that can very often leave you wanting more.
Well, snackable content is no different!
With the rise of TikTok and Instagram Reels, brands and businesses of all shapes and sizes are putting resources into creating short-forms of “snackable” content that inform and educate consumers.
With attention spans shrinking and people spending on average over 2 hours per day on social media, the need for snackable content is not going away. By increasing engagement through interactive or snappy posts, you are reaching new audiences and growing the recall of your brand.
Interactive snackable content, such as quizzes, multichoice questions, personalized story templates, quotes, and infographics are on the rise.
Research shows that up to 60% of businesses use interactive elements like stickers in their Instagram stories. They are a fantastic way to boost your engagement and generate conversation with your audience, which can lead to revenue. Stories with stickers perform better 83% of the time.
Whether you choose location stickers, mentions of followers, hashtags, or questions and polls, they all connect with your audience on a more personal level.
Amplify With Instagram Ads
Instagram story ads are a way to seamlessly insert an advertisement into your content that can help increase engagement or leads to your website.
Whether you want to increase your content reach, create more views on video content, drive more traffic, generate conversions or just brand awareness, Instagram ads are a great tool.
They also won’t disappear after 24 hours like normal stories! You can choose the length of your campaign and the frequency in which you want it posted. They sneakily look just like organic posts so are seamlessly added into a user’s story viewing.
Another bonus is that users don’t have to follow you to get your ads.
- Grow brand awareness
- Increase reach
- Receive more video views
- Drive valuable actions on your website
- Increase conversions
- Drive sales leads
- Or direct traffic to your website…
Instagram ads could be the thing for you!
Further Reading:
- The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories Ads (HubSpot):Learn what Instagram Story ads are, and how you can run Instagram Story ads for your own brand. Plus, best practices and examples to inspire your next ad.
- Instagram Stories: 10 Reasons Why Businesses Are Using Them (Social Insider): Top 10 reasons why businesses are using Instagram Stories as part of their social media strategy, and why you should too. Discover more here.
Tool of the Week
We love innovative and fun ways to interact with customers, and this tool is the perfect partner for doing so.
It’s called Bonjoro!
87% of marketers are now using video as part of their marketing strategy – which is no surprise, given the science behind video retention and engagement!
These stats show the power of video marketing and showcase why Bonjoro could be an excellent addition to your side hustle!
Bonjoro is a personalized video funnel that helps you create videos that can build a powerful and long-lasting connection with your customers.
Once a customer has purchased a product you can send them a personalized video from Bonjoro, monitor when they watch it, and respond if needed.
If you are a team of one you can even sign up for FREE! We all love a bargain, right?
With over 20,000 businesses using this tool, you can use its nifty interface and 1,000+ integrations to add power to your video workflows and connect with customers.
Further Reading:
- Bonjoro: Build Superfans with Video: Convert, retain, and grow customer superfans with delightful personal video messages sent at just the right moment.