Why Aren’t My People Supporting My Brand?

Lately, I’ve been seeing so many people with small businesses of their own complaining about how their loved ones are not supporting them enough. Their friends aren’t buying the clothes in their online boutique or their parents haven't ordered anything from their latest collection of candles and they are fed up! I can completely understand feeling like the people closest to you should be your biggest supporters, but at the same time, if you truly want to grow your business, your focus should actually be on the people who don’t know you. What would make strangers want to support you? How can you get someone who didn’t grow up with you to buy and follow your brand? Those are the questions that have to be answered. Even the most popular person with the largest family will stifle their growth if they only worry about why the few hundred people that they are personally connected to aren’t supporting them. There are billions of people in the world, you have to figure out how to reach them!

Also, sometimes it is important to find out WHY your loved ones aren’t supporting your brand. Does the quality of your products match your price point? Do you need to offer a wider range of products that appeal to everyone? Are you producing a product that is actually useful or appealing? Ask your loved ones why they aren’t supporting you or what you could do better as opposed to focusing all of your energy on the fact that they aren’t your most reliable customers. The people closest to you will love you enough to be honest with you about how you can improve as opposed to strangers who will simply see something they don’t like and take their support elsewhere. So the next time you feel like your tribe has left you hanging on your small business journey, remember who you actually should be marketing to and ask those closest to you how you could do better at serving them.