Discoverability: A Calm Alternative to the Demands of Social Media Marketing
There is a growing number of business coaches talking about alternatives to social media marketing — but often these strategies require cold outreach in order to work
Whereas when you become discoverable, clients are more likely to reach out to you. In this article I’ll explain what discoverability is, and how you can walk the path of being more easily found. Let’s go!
— In this article —
To understand the value of discoverability, we’ll start by defining what ‘visibility’ is.
Visibility: the energetically depleting approach
Visibility is a pro-active approach to marketing that typically requires a presence on social media, consistent content creation, responding to comments + DMs, and doing whatever else we can muster so that our content will be shown in newsfeeds.
And herein lies the problem!
Most service based solopreneurs in my circles don’t want to ‘have to’ show up on social media all the time. They want the entrepreneurial freedom they imagined — but has never quite materialised.
Discoverability: the calm, impactful approach
Enter ‘discoverability’ — a more passive, laid-back approach to marketing where people find us through intentional online research, or their own networks.
Did you notice your body exhale when you read that?↑ . . . go on, read it again.
Practically none of my paying clients or students discover me via socials. They find out about me through a handful of people, or during their quest for information on a specific topic — and this started happening without me doing any intentional SEO.
That’s why I still enjoy Instagram, because I don't *have to* be here. Instead it’s a place where I can play. It’s a vehicle for artful self expression. It’s a place I can dip in and out of as I please.
Reverse engineering what it takes to be discoverable:
In order to be discovered via online searches, we need to have published content where it can be found by our ideal buyer when they are online looking for information.
In order for our content to potentially appear in search results, our messaging needs to include the type of language that our ideal buyer uses when they think and speak about the issue we help with.
And to understand the words that they use, so we can blend it in with our own language, we need to have done proper market research.
These elements make up what I call the ‘Discoverability Ecosystem’.
The Discoverability Ecosystem:
There are 3 components to this ecosystem, each one building and feeding into the next element as illustrated in the image above. This ecosystem is built in 3 phases:
Phase 1: Market Research
Phase 2: Message Building
Phase: Audience Building
Together these components set the stage for us and our work to be found, without having to be online all the time.
Not every piece of content needs to be discoverable
Right now about 20% of my published content is ‘discoverable’ through online searches, and these content pieces generate 90% of my income. So you don’t need loads of content pieces to be discoverable in order to have your sales increase.
Looking back on the last few years I can say that income has channeled through a couple of blog articles and about five people in my network — and I consider my business to be very financially successful.
Setting up your Discoverability Ecosystem;
If you have a system for integrating market research responses with your messaging, identifying your best content topics for discoverability, creating and publishing them — then you are good to go! Get cracking with your ecosystem asap!
But if that’s not you, then I’d love to guide you through my simple, cohesive process that has the 3 ecosystem components working together with effortless ease.
There’s no need to spend time working out a system on your own. You’ll love the simplicity of mine, which I teach in my course Discoverability & Audience Building.
Where are you at with being discovered outside of social media? I’d love to know, let’s talk about it in the comments!
Danielle Gardner
The Quiet Marketer
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