5 Reasons Why You Should Sell Directly to Your Audience
We’re big advocates for exploring other income streams; and creating a storefront for you time, content, products, and services can be a great source of income.
Creator businesses are built on creativity and community. As a creator, you cherish your audience and know it’s what separates you from the creator next door. Communities crave content, and exclusive content is what every diehard fan wants most. Even better, exclusive content is easy to make, easy to share, and even easier to monetize. Importantly, it also allows you to remain independent of any platform — meaning you don’t have to shape your content to fit the algorithm or structures in place.
Download Creator Cash [iOS or Android] to help you do just that with Creator Store, a new feature that helps creators sell their time, videos, commissions, learning materials, etc. directly to their audiences.
If you need more convincing, here are five reasons you should consider adding exclusive content and services to your business plan:
1. Engage your audience
When you create content for the masses, it can be hard to engage with them directly—even more so when you’re tied to the limitations of your platform. Playing the algorithms and only being able to engage via the comment section can get old. Creating a storefront of products or services closes the gap between you and your audience. By selling directly to your audience, you can offer a catalogue of things they actually want or need.
Say you’re a lifestyle vlogger who gives great advice on minimalism, you can offer 1:1s to sit and chat with a follower. Or say you know your followers expressed their trouble with building resumes. You can provide tools, resources, or personalized courses to help them.
You’re able to connect on a deeper level — taking your audience from passive viewers to dedicated fans.
2. Flex your expertise
You know the saying: “If you want to master something, then teach it.” You can dive deeper into a content subject that your audience has been asking you to expand on. You’re cementing the knowledge in yourself as much as you are in others. And the fact that you’re sharing your lessons—whether through courses, 1:1s, or personalized downloads—puts you in a position to become a leader.
People want to learn and consume content from leaders in the space. Think back on when we first saw Michelle Phan arise to YouTube fame. She positioned herself as a leader because she was both already knowledgeable about the space and she was keen on sharing it with others. It led to her garnering a loyal audience and becoming the entrepreneur she is today.
So, manifest your future success by becoming a thought leader.
3. Earn your value
The beauty of being a content creator is making your own schedule, but that doesn’t mean you’re not hustling for 10+ hours a day. As you take on new projects to build your business, you’re starting to think about time, effort, and economic benefits. Selling a catalogue of things directly to your audience is a low risk, flexible way to earn a steady income. And with apps like Creator Cash, you don’t have to cater to any platform’s algorithm. There’s no need to play by YouTube’s or Instagram’s rules with a storefront of your own.
If you’re teaching fitness classes over Zoom, then you can create private classes for paying customers and schedule them on your time. Say you’ve gotten so good at video editing that you can do it in your sleep. You can create a few videos and working assets that can be downloaded anytime after payment. You’d be making money long after you’ve created the content (just remember to keep your work relevant and up-to-date!).
4. Build an empire
With the flexibility of selling directly to your audience, there also comes the ability to scale. When you start selling, you might want to start with smaller commissions or shorter online classes. However, as you grow and your audience expands, you have a natural segue to scale.
You can turn one instructional course into a whole series or you can provide a variety of content. For example, your fitness classes would be nicely accompanied by a few courses on clean eating and other healthy habits.
Selling directly is more than just memberships or subscriptions; it can be a storefront for all the things you offer as a creator.
5. Make money while you sleep
When you’re hustling as a creator, it can be hard to take time for yourself. Selling directly to your audience can give you a chance to make money in your sleep and not worry about content flopping. It’s low risk, and you get to fulfill yourself and your income.
For example, if you enjoy graphic design but you’re not ready to release it widely or spend too much time on it, you can use your storefront as an opportunity to share your talent or knowledge to a smaller group of people. The product or service is always available, so it becomes passive income once it’s for sale. This gives you a chance to earn some money and pivot to what’s easiest for you.
If you take anything away from this article, it should be this…
Selling your time, content, products, and services to your audience (and potentially new consumers) is the next step in your creator business. You can do it on your terms with a storefront. Whether you’re selling downloadable videos or you’re teaching a class, you can grow your creator business beyond any one platform.
Download Creator Cash [iOS or Android] to help you do just that with our new feature that helps creators sell directly to their audiences.
