We all know how much we rely on our mobile phones these days, and our screen time has massively increased in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. You know your fans, followers, and customers are already using their phones all the time to follow you on your social media channels.
Social media is your backbone, sure. But if you’re ready to expand your profile and build up your audience engagement and revenue, why not get an entirely new channel to reach them through their phones, too? Why not also reach them directly via their phone numbers?
Whether you’re an influencer, entrepreneur, or artist, having a public phone number is a must these days. In addition to helping you strengthen your connection with your audience, it’s also a powerful tool that can help you sell your content.
Once you get a number, here are a few concrete steps you can take and ideas to help you start turning that phone number into your newest little goldmine.
You’ve gotten yourself a dedicated phone number to use for your public self — great! Now what are you going to do — just sit on it and then stare sadly into the middle distance, wondering why no one ever contacts you? Of course not. It’s time to promote, promote, promote, baby!
Get your phone number out there for everyone to see. Ok, maybe don’t start writing it on public bathroom mirrors. But you should be listing your public phone number now in every profile section you have — in your social media profiles, on your website, in each of your newsletters and on your business cards.
But don’t just list your number and then walk away. Make an announcement when you launch it for the first time and explain why you’ve taken this step.
Make it clear it’s all about your appreciation of your audience and your desire to connect with them.
Share some of the ways you plan to use your number to benefit them, too.
The way you deliver this message is up to you. One approach could be to make the announcement in a video where you speak directly to your audience. (J.Lo shared her phone number in an Instagram video to her fans when she launched it for the first time, along with a contest aimed at promoting her new film, for just one example.)
Once you’ve announced it for the first time… don’t stop. Keep announcing your public phone number in smaller ways, too. If you’re a YouTube content creator, for example, you could give a video plug for your phone number at the end of your next several videos. And you can include your phone number in the description text of each video, too.
If you want to use your phone number to help sell your content or services, then you’re going to need people to contact with it, right? That means you need to collect their phone numbers. Here are two ways to do it:
In either case, you’ll want a tool that can let you set up automatic text messages and help you manage your contact list. After your followers give you their phone number, you’ll send them an automatic text that asks them to confirm that they want to get texts from you (or lets them opt out quickly with a STOP).
Big Important Note: You may already have some phone numbers for customers that you collected when they made purchases from you. However, while there are a few exceptions to this, it’s best not to contact anyone via phone or text for your marketing or promotion efforts unless they’ve explicitly signed up for it. This is your guaranteed way to protect yourself from complaints of spamming, which could get your number blacklisted and hurt your reputation with your audience overall.
The secret to getting more of your audience to give you their phone number is to make it worth their while.
Tempt them with exclusive offers or experiences to sign up for your text messages and then to stay subscribed.
Use text messages to offer something your audience will value but can’t get anywhere else. A few options include:
Once you’ve given them a good incentive to get on your phone contact list, it’s time to start putting your public phone number to work in selling your content!
Scoring your audience’s phone numbers is an exciting achievement. A ton of opportunities to sell your content and expand your revenue have just opened up for you. But play it cool. Think of a giddy teenager who can’t stop texting their crush. Don’t be that person!
Above all, like with any marketing endeavor, you’re going to need to sit down and set some clear goals, processes, and expectations. As part of this process, you’ll want to make sure you think about:
Up to now, we’ve mostly talked about using a public phone number for marketing and promotions — as a way to promote your content and/or to help sell your services. But there’s another possibility too — your phone number could be the service.
To put it another way: you could sell your audience the service of communicating with you via text or phone.
You could turn your public phone number into a vehicle for coaching clients in your area of expertise, or into a subscription service for exclusive customized content delivered via text.
Here’s just one example: Imagine you’re a nutrition expert with an audience who is always hungry for advice about what to eat to be their best self. What if, for a certain monthly fee, they could text you their direct questions and get a personal reply from you? The possibilities are pretty powerful here.
Whether you want to be a coach or not, be creative and flexible with the possibilities a public phone number could bring you in this unique moment, depending on your business model and your goals. Either way, get ready for an interesting and productive time!
A public phone number can become a powerful new tool to help you sell your content. Once you get a phone number, you’ll need to promote it across all your channels and develop a solid strategy for collecting your audience’s phone numbers. The secret is to offer an awesome incentive that will entice them to sign up. Make sure you get strategic in developing your marketing plan to promote your content via texts. Finally, consider how you could turn your public phone number into a coaching or subscription service to open new revenue channels, too.
Are you ready to get your own public phone line and more?
Toosa, a powerful new audience communication platform, will be launching soon. Don’t miss out! Get on the waiting list now for updates and find out how to be one of Toosa’s first users.