Solopreneurs wear all hats and juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. So without a dedicated marketing team, business growth can be painfully slow.
I've been building my one-person business since 2019, so I get it.
The journey can be overwhelming.
But over the years, I've discovered and refined some game-changing marketing strategies that have helped me earn $4M+ in revenue.
To help you break through the noise, I'll share 7 proven solopreneur marketing strategies you can use to grow a loyal following, attract your ideal customers, and make more sales.
Marketing Basics for Solopreneurs 101
In my early days as a solopreneur, I realized that traditional marketing methods wouldn't cut it for my solo venture.
I needed to be more agile, resourceful, and strategic.
As I built my one-person business, I discovered the most effective ways to grow and reach my target audience.
Here are a few key principles I've learned along the way:
- Know your audience: Understand who your ideal customers are and tailor your marketing efforts to their needs, preferences, and pain points
- Focus on value: Offer genuine value to your audience through your products, services, and content. This helps you build trust and authority
- Be consistent: Consistency in your messaging, branding, and content will make your business more memorable and help you stand out in a crowded market
- Test and iterate: Be nimble and continuously test different marketing tactics, analyze the results, and refine your approach based on what works best for you
Now that we've covered some basics, let's dive into the 7 solopreneur marketing strategies that have significantly impacted my journey — and can for you, too.
7 solopreneur marketing strategies
- Get laser-focused on your goals and desired outcomes
- Build your personal brand on a social platform
- Take people along on your journey
- Invest in a high-quality website
- Write evergreen content
- Grow your email list
- Be a podcast guest
1. Get laser-focused on your goals and desired outcomes
Before you can market your services or products, you need to know what your goals are.
What do you want to happen? How will you help your prospective clients?
Having a clear vision of your objectives is crucial to your success as a solopreneur.
Shortly after I started my journey, I realized that having a "spray and pray" approach to marketing wouldn't work.
Instead, I needed to be intentional about my goals and the impact I wanted to create. This meant taking the time to define my objectives and aligning my marketing efforts with them.
Here's how to get laser-focused on your goals:
Define your objectives
Be specific about what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts.
Are you looking to boost brand awareness? Generate leads? Drive sales and increase revenue?
Making your desired outcomes clear will help you create an effective, targeted marketing plan.
Understand your target audience
Identify your ideal customers and learn what makes them tick.
What are their needs, preferences, and pain points?
Knowing these will help you create marketing messages that resonate and offer solutions to people’s problems.
Determine your unique selling proposition (USP)
What sets you apart from your competitors?
What value do you bring to your clients?
Your USP should be at the core of your marketing strategy, ensuring your audience understands why they should choose you over others.
Set SMART goals
Make your goals:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
SMART goals will help you stay focused and track your progress. You can then adjust your strategy accordingly.
2. Build your personal brand on a social platform
These days, people buy from people they relate to, trust, and like.
As a one-person business owner, your personal brand is a powerful asset that can help you connect with your target audience, establish credibility, and drive business growth.
One of the most effective ways to build your personal brand is by showing up and posting content online. I’d advise choosing one social platform in the beginning.
For me, that's LinkedIn. I started building my personal brand there — sharing valuable content, engaging with my audience, and connecting with like-minded professionals.
Once I built a robust presence on LinkedIn, I expanded my reach even further on Twitter.
Remember, building a personal brand takes time and consistency. So don't get discouraged if you're not seeing traction right away.
Here's how you can start building your personal brand today:
Choose the right platform
Pick a social media platform where your ideal clients spend their time. This could be LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or any platform that's relevant to your niche and industry.
Create a compelling profile
Your social media profile should be a reflection of your personal brand. Make it clear who you are, what you do, and how you help your clients.
Use a clear, on-brand profile picture and write a captivating bio that highlights your expertise.
Share valuable content
I'm seeing a lot more founders, freelancers, and small business owners leverage social media marketing to get their businesses out there.
And you should, too.
Consistently post content that is relevant, informative, and engaging. This could be a mix of text-only posts with insights, videos, carousels, and even thought-provoking questions.
The key here is to provide value to your audience while positioning yourself as an expert in your field.
I personally post twice a day — at 8:15 AM EST and 1:00 PM EST. This keeps me top of mind, and those who missed my first post will see my second post later in the day.
Engage with your audience
Don't post and ghost.
Take the time to interact with your followers, respond to their comments, and join conversations in your niche. This helps you build genuine relationships and foster trust.
Be authentic
Let your personality shine through in your online presence. It's much easier for people to relate to you if they feel like they're getting to know the real you.
Learn my systems
There are 2 ways I can help you build your personal brand:
→ The LinkedIn Operating System: Transform your LinkedIn profile into a lead generation machine with The LinkedIn Operating System. This comprehensive course will teach you the system I use to grow from 0 to 420,000+ followers and $4M in income on this untapped platform. Join 15,000+ students here.
→ The Content Operating System: A multi-step system for creating a high-quality newsletter and 6-12 pieces of high-performance social media content each week. Join 6,000+ students.
3. Take people along on your journey
When I started sharing my experiences, both the highs and the lows, I noticed a significant increase in engagement and connection with my audience.
People could relate to my struggles and celebrate my wins with me, which made my personal brand more authentic and trustworthy.
To give you some ideas, here are my favorite ways to take my followers along on my journey:
Sharing personal stories
Update your audience on your progress, milestones, and setbacks. This could be through blog articles, live videos, or short social media posts. Be honest and transparent about your experiences.
Celebrating wins
Share your successes — big or small. Your audience will appreciate your vulnerability and be inspired by your achievements.
Discussing challenges
Challenges, we all go through them.
So, don't be afraid to open up about the obstacles you face as a solopreneur. This not only humanizes your brand but also gives your audience an opportunity to offer support and advice or share their own experiences.
Asking for feedback
Invite your audience to share their thoughts, opinions, and suggestions. You can learn a lot and improve your offerings based on the feedback you get from other people.
Engaging in meaningful conversations
Respond to comments and DMs from your audience, and actively participate in discussions within your niche. This helps you build relationships and be seen as a thought leader.
4. Invest in a high-quality website
While a professional website isn't a priority in the beginning, it's worth investing in once you gain traction building an online presence.
With a website, you can further showcase who you are, what you do, and how you serve your clients.
Here are a few measures I took to improve my online visibility through a user-friendly website on Kajabi:
Choose a user-friendly design
Opt for a clean, visually-appealing design that's easy to navigate. This helps your visitors find the information they need efficiently.
Make it mobile-friendly
Ensure your website is responsive and looks great on all devices, including smartphones and tablets. With the majority of web traffic coming from mobile devices these days, having a mobile-friendly website is essential.
Optimize for speed
A slow-loading website can frustrate visitors and harm your search engine rankings. Invest in a reliable hosting provider and optimize your images, CSS, and JavaScript to ensure your site loads quickly.
Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
Guide your audience toward taking the desired action, whether it's signing up for your newsletter, booking a consultation, or buying your product. Make sure your CTAs are clear, concise, and prominently placed.
Implement search engine optimization (SEO)
Optimize your website's content, meta tags, and structure to improve your search engine rankings and increase organic traffic. This helps you reach a larger audience and attract more potential clients.
Showcase industry expertise
Use your website to highlight your skills, experience, and success stories. Include a portfolio, case studies, or testimonials to demonstrate your value and the results you've achieved for your clients.
By investing in a high-quality website, you can create a robust online hub for your solopreneur business, attract more clients, and strengthen your personal brand.
5. Write evergreen content
Coming up with fresh content from scratch gets tedious after a while.
I suggest creating content you can refresh or repurpose after a few months.
Trust me, you don't need to spend so much time reinventing the wheel.
You need evergreen content — content that remains relevant and valuable over time.
Examples include:
- Best practices
- Hot-takes or opinions
- Foundational concepts
- How-to guides in your industry
- Personal stories about your journey
I've found that writing evergreen content not only saves me time but also helps me reach new audience members who may not have seen my older posts. I also recycle evergreen content on multiple social media channels, email newsletters, and blog posts to reach even more people.
6. Grow your email list
Building an audience on social media is a great start. But once you have a tight-knit community, it's time to move people over to your email list.
Think of it like renting an apartment vs. owning a home.
With social media, you're renting. With an email list, you're owning.
Remember that social media platforms can change their algorithms at any time or ban you for no good reason. With an email list, you can continue to connect with people no matter what.
Growing an email list will take some time. But I've learned that offering a free value-packed lead magnet entices people to sign up.
A great way to start adding value to your subscribers is to send a weekly (or bi-weekly) email newsletter.
Newsletters are a fantastic way to engage with folks on your email list and stay memorable. In addition to sharing subscriber-exclusive content, make it easy for people to access your offerings when the time is right for them.
Here's how I do it:
7. Be a podcast guest
To reach your target audience and market your business, you need to explore various channels.
Consider researching podcasts in your industry/niche, pitch yourself as a guest, and connect with new audiences.
I'm not a big video guy. I prefer to write about my journey and experiences.
But I've found that participating in podcast features is a highly effective marketing strategy. It's an excellent way to collaborate with podcast hosts, share my story, and let people know about my offerings.
Podcast features have helped me build authority, and more people have discovered me and what I do because of these appearances.
I've even ended up doing business with some of the podcast hosts I've worked with.
Getting started with solopreneur marketing
No matter the products or services you offer, having a marketing strategy is imperative for solopreneur success.
Personal experience has taught me that with the right tactics and resources, it's much easier to effectively market a solo business while also handling the day-to-day operations.
Here are 5 steps I'd take if I had to start over:
- Pick one social media platform to build your personal brand and market your offerings
- If LinkedIn is your choice, accelerate the discovery process with The LinkedIn Operating System
- Use The Content Operating System to make a content calendar and sustainable posting schedule
- Show up consistently (post daily with my audience growth strategy in mind)
- Promote your business offerings (if you don't, no one will)
Now, go make that first move.
You got this.
