Paige Brunton

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Marketing Without Social Media - How I Grew My Business without Instagram

Paige Brunton

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Are you feeling chained to social media because of your business?

What if I told you that you could throw away your social accounts forever and still grow your business?

Stick around because I'm going to show you exactly how.

Two years ago, I did the unthinkable. I officially broke up with Instagram.

Like a bad boyfriend, it had me questioning my worth, my work, and my way of life. And here's the kicker. My Instagram breakup post got more attention and engagement than any other content I'd ever put out there.

It turns out I wasn't the only one ready for a change.

I previously thought being on social was just one of those necessary evils that comes with being an entrepreneur.

I mean, an online business without social media. It kind of sounds like the punchline of a joke.

Now, let's be real.

Quitting social media overnight might leave you with a severe case of "What now?" and "But how will I get leads for my business?" and that's why we're going to craft a marketing strategy without social media so solid you will feel uber confident saying goodbye to all of the socials without one backwards glance.

Marketing without social media

Now, I want to walk you through a very intentional strategy for marketing without social media to help you get off social media for your business because honestly, I don't think it's a good idea for you to just quit cold turkey tomorrow.

You do need a marketing strategy for your business and we want to make sure that it is working well for you before you cut off social media as a lead generation option.

The key thing that allowed me to get off Instagram, Facebook, and all of the rest and continue making multi six figures a year in my business at the time was that I already had other marketing strategies going.

So we need to figure out what other marketing strategy is going to be there for you and what are you going to start building up before you say "Adios" to Facebook or Instagram or Twitter or TikTok tomorrow.

Now, before you get swept up in the next trend and think that affiliate marketing is the next hot thing or that blogging is gonna make a comeback this year, I want to talk about making this decision really intentionally because you are about to implement this new marketing strategy for years and years and years and years and so we want to make sure that you are investing your time and effort into the right thing for you.

Now, if we compare this to financial investing, I think you're gonna understand my point.

So imagine this, you've paid off all of your debt, done your Dave Ramsey debt-free screen, and now you have your sites set on investing your money.

You're standing at a crossroads of investment options or tools.

On the one side, you have cryptocurrency, volatile, exciting with potentially high returns, but equally high risks.

On the other side, there's real estate, tangible, traditional, generally stable, but requiring significant upfront investment and patience for growth.

Choosing which of these two investment tools isn't just about picking cryptocurrency or real estate.

It's sort of about zooming out of those specific tools and understanding your overall bigger investment strategy.

What is your risk tolerance?

What is your time horizon for seeing returns?

Your desired level of involvement?

These questions matter because they're going to guide you to the investment tool that most aligns with your goals and resources and lifestyle.

And the same goes for selecting the right non-social-media marketing strategy for your business.

It's not just about deciding whether you to use email marketing over social media or SEO over traditional advertising. Those are all just specific marketing tools and to choose the right one, you first need to have your overall strategy really well defined.

Basically, it's about stepping back and considering what you're really trying to achieve.

Are you looking for quick sales of a low price product?

Or are you building a long-term business and maybe selling something that requires a lot of trust for your ideal client to actually pull the trigger and make the sale with you?

Do you have the resources to play the long game or do you need to see immediate results to keep the lights on?

Each marketing strategy, like each investment type with your money, has its own set of risks and rewards.

Just as with investments, the best marketing strategy for you depends on your business goals, your audience, and yes, your budget.

By understanding the bigger picture, your overall marketing strategy, you can make a really informed decision about which marketing tool to use and when you decide to quit social media (and all of your business owner friends' jaws hit the floor like mine did), you could be really confident that you're making a wise decision for your business and that you're not going to need to go crawling back to Instagram a few months after your breakup post because you're desperate for leads at that point.

So as we explore the world of marketing beyond social media, let's keep our eyes on the bigger strategy.

We start with the strategy and then we pick the appropriate tools and social media is just one potential tool, which obviously if you're reading this post is off the table for you.

So here's the marketing without social media strategy laid out in simple steps.

Step number one, define who it is that you're talking to and what it is that you're selling.

That's your ideal client avatar aka ICA and your offering.

This step is so critical.

Try to move forward without it? It's like trying to hit a bull's eye in darts without knowing where the actual dartboard is.

Imagine your ICA is right here sipping coffee with you.

Who are they really?

What keeps them up at night?

Now, let's not just go service level here. Dig deeper.

What are their pain points?

What are their dreams?

What are their daily struggles and their 3 a.m thoughts?

This isn't about just figuring out their age or their favorite color. It's about really knowing what makes them tick.

Let's say you're running a web design business and your ICA might be Sarah.

Sarah is an ambitious entrepreneur with a killer product but a website that's well a digital ghost town. She needs a site that not only looks fabulous but also converts visitors faster than you can say click-through rate.

And your offering is a customized SEO-optimized website that's as strategic as it is stylish, turning that ghost town into Grand Central Station.

Now for the wedding photographer, maybe your ICA could be Chris and Jordan, a couple planning the most Instagramable wedding of the year in their local Charleston, South Carolina.

They want someone who doesn't just take photos. They want someone who captures moments, tells a story, and creates a legacy.

And your offering is a wedding photography package that promises not just pictures, but a ticket back to the most beautiful day of their lives anytime that they want.

So before you dive into the ocean of marketing tools available, take time to really nail this step.

It's about connecting with your ICA on a level so deep they feel like you're reading their minds.

Once you've done that, you'll be able to craft an offering and messaging that is just so aligned with what they desire. They literally can't help but say like take my money, purlease.

And as we wrap up step number one, remember knowing your ICA and your offering inside and out is what will guide every marketing decision that you make. It's the compass for your business journey, ensuring that you're always headed in the right direction.

Now, if you need help with this step, make sure to grab the free ideal client workbook below to uncover this first!

See this gallery in the original post

Now on to step number two.

Step number two is to get to know all of the marketing tools at your disposal.

Let's be honest, there are more ways to market your business than there are fish in the sea, from SEO to influencer marketing to PR to ads.

Each has its own place, but which tool is right for you?

Let's find out & to help I’ve created a list of non-social-media based marketing tools you can choose from

See this gallery in the original post

Now, there are a few things to consider when deciding between these 20 or so options.

You have either one of two things to invest in to your marketing, time or money.

Some of these marketing options require time, some of them require money, some of them require both.

Now next on the criteria list is are you building or borrowing an audience?

Here's what I mean by that. If I run my own podcast, I'm building the audience for the podcast every month I create new content. As I create content, the podcast audience grows. It's slower to build, but you have your own audience, which you can get in touch with as many times as you'd like.

On the other hand, guesting on other people's podcasts is borrowing an audience. The audience already exists, the podcast host already has built that audience, and you get the chance to get in front of that podcast audience when you guest on the show. The upside is that you get in front of a lot of people quickly. The downside is that you can't connect with that audience anytime. The host probably doesn't want you on their show every single week.

Now, building an audience takes longer. Borrowing an audience is faster.

Next thing we need to talk about is scale.

Some marketing strategies are small-scale, what I call relationship marketing strategies. You go and you talk to one person at a local event, and now you have one potential person buying your offering.

You're more likely to convert that person because you build a lot of know, like, and trust with them, but it's marketing on a very small scale.

And then we have mid-scale marketing options.

In-person speaking at events fall into this category. You go speak on stage in front of 50 or maybe 100 or 500 people.

Ads on the other hand are mass-scale marketing. You can get your ad in front of 100,000 people in literally the click of a button.

And as we move from smaller-scale to larger-scale marketing options, the number of people that we reach tends to go up, but the conversion rate tends to go down.

And finally, specific to our two business owners, the website designer and the photographer, I've also ticked in here which marketing tools fit each type of business, the online business website designer and the local business photographer.

Step number three is picking the tool that fits like a glove.

It's aligned with your skills and your budget and your business needs. Grab the list that I put together for you & make it your own.

In your industry, there might be marketing options, which aren't even on the list. Or you might want to play with the list and add your own criteria.

Make sure to grab the list below so you can go through the process for your own business & industry.

See this gallery in the original post

And step number four is to go all in and implement and only then can you wave goodbye to social media with your head held high.

Now before you go and say adios to Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and everything.

If they're the ones that are bringing leads into your business right now, I honestly would not quit them today.

If you still want your bank balance to be happy with you in a month or two, that is.

Instead, work on building up one new marketing strategy, which you've decided on from your list first.

And then when it's bringing you in leads, you can confidently kiss social media goodbye like I did.

My non-social media marketing strategies (that built my multi-six figure business)

If you're wondering what my marketing strategies are, by the way, I've built up a few over the past seven years.

My ideal clients are women who want to start web design businesses and my offering is online courses. I have a purely online business and a totally scalable offering.

So doing mass marketing strategies are kind of the only option for me.

I also personally hate social media, so that was not going to be an option for me.

So the marketing tools, which I selected were

  1. SEO with a blog, two,

  2. My YouTube channel

  3. Aaffiliates who helped me promote my courses.

We did dabble with ads and social media in the past, but neither one of those things brought me joy or felt right for me.

So I scrapped both of those things years ago.

And that's how I have such a successful business, which has served over 5000 students without having spent one soul sucking minute on social media in the past few years.

Now, nailing your marketing strategy is one thing, but if you haven't nailed your pricing strategy yet, let's talk numbers. Check out this video next where I'm going to spill the beans on pricing strategies that will boost your profits sky high.

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