I’ve been reading some really interesting stuff lately about selling without using social media.
And I think this is important because I know plenty of people who absolutely hate it.
They don’t want to make videos of themselves, spend hours on Facebook or worry about whether Instagram is going to show their latest post to more than three people.
Fair enough.
But somewhere along the way, we’ve started behaving as though social media is compulsory if you want to sell anything online. It isn’t.
You can sell books, digital products, courses or almost anything else without building a following on TikTok or Instagram.
You can even make money recommending other people’s products.
Ultimately, you just need a way to reach people who might want what you’re selling.
And there are quite a few ways to do that…
1. Let people find you through Google
This is one of the oldest ways to attract customers online, and it’s still worth learning.
Think about the questions people type into Google every day.
If you’ve written a book about growing vegetables, someone searching for advice on growing tomatoes could discover an article you’ve written.
If you sell digital products, you can write about the problems those products solve.
One useful article can continue attracting visitors long after you’ve published it.
Google has a completely free guide to getting your content found, and it’s surprisingly readable.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
2. Sell somewhere people are already shopping
This is something I think gets overlooked.
You don’t necessarily have to build an audience before you start selling.
You can put your products somewhere that already attracts people looking to buy things.
Etsy, for example, isn’t just for handmade jewellery and knitted scarves. People sell planners, printable games, templates and all sorts of original digital downloads there.
There’s no monthly subscription required for a standard shop, although there are listing fees and charges when you make a sale. A shop setup fee may also apply.
Another interesting option is Payhip.
You can set up a store for free and sell ebooks, digital downloads, courses or other products. Its free plan charges 5% per sale, plus payment processing fees.
Payhip also has a marketplace that can introduce your products to people who haven’t heard of you, although your store and products need to qualify.
3. Borrow someone else’s audience
I don’t mean stealing their subscribers!
I mean getting your work in front of people who already have an interest in your subject.
You could write a guest article for a website, contribute something useful to another person’s newsletter or arrange a joint promotion with someone selling complementary products.
And there’s another approach that I particularly like…
Be a guest on a podcast.
You don’t need to start your own podcast or become a video personality.
If you’ve written a book, developed an interesting product or have experience that would help someone else’s audience, you could be an excellent guest.
MatchMaker.fm connects podcast hosts with potential guests. It currently offers a 30-day free trial with five conversation starts, followed by a paid subscription if you want to continue.
Imagine talking about the subject of your book to an audience that’s already fascinated by it.
That’s a rather different experience from trying to get strangers to stop scrolling.
4. Use a marketplace for your digital products
Here’s another one worth investigating.
Gumroad allows creators to sell digital products without a monthly subscription.
It also has a discovery marketplace, meaning customers can potentially find your products without knowing who you are.
There are transaction fees, and sales through Gumroad’s own marketplace attract a higher commission than sales you bring yourself, so do check the numbers.
Of course, simply uploading something doesn’t guarantee anyone will buy it.
But putting products somewhere people are already browsing is another way to get started.
5. Build your own email audience
This is still one of my favourite approaches. Someone signs up because they’re interested in what you have to say. You send them useful information and, when you have something relevant, you can recommend it.
That might be your own book, a product you’ve created or something you’re promoting as an affiliate.
You can build that list through your website, articles, guest appearances or free downloads.
And if you’re starting out, Kit has a free plan that currently supports up to 10,000 subscribers.
You can even combine your email list with a free download sold through Payhip, allowing people to discover your work and sign up for more.
6. Publish your own newsletter
You don’t necessarily need a website to get started with this.
Substack lets you create a publication, publish articles and send newsletters to subscribers. It also has a recommendation system through which other writers can introduce their readers to you.
Or take a look at beehiiv, which offers a free plan for newsletters with up to 2,500 subscribers.
You could write about crime fiction, gardening, travel, history or almost anything that interests you.
The idea is to build a readership around a subject, then introduce relevant products or services when it makes sense.
7. Get other people to sell for you
This is another approach I particularly like, because it works both ways.
You can become an affiliate and recommend products that would genuinely help your audience.
Or you can create your own product and recruit affiliates to promote it.
They already have subscribers or customers who might want what you’re selling, and you pay them a commission when they make a sale.
It takes work to find good partners and make your offer attractive, but you don’t have to reach every potential customer yourself.
And you don’t have to have a huge audience to begin with.
Something to try this week
Here’s a little experiment.
Choose one thing you’d like to sell.
It could be a book you’ve written, a digital product you’ve created or something you recommend as an affiliate.
Now think about where someone who wants that thing might already be looking.
Are they searching Google? Browsing a marketplace? Reading a particular newsletter? Listening to podcasts about that subject?
Pick ONE of those places and investigate how you could get your offer in front of them.
Because you might find that your next customer is already looking for what you have.
You just haven’t made it easy for them to find you yet.
This week’s TED Talk
I’ve chosen Seth Godin’s The Tribes We Lead.
It’s an older talk, but I think it’s particularly relevant now.
Seth talks about how people come together around shared interests and ideas, and why you don’t need to reach the entire world to make something happen.
You need to reach the people who care about what you’re doing.
Watch it here:
I think we’ve become so accustomed to being told we have to post constantly and build our personal brands that it’s easy to forget there are other ways to run a business.
And if you enjoy social media, that’s absolutely fine too. But if you don’t?
You can still sell things and build a business…doing it your way.