5 Ways to Build an Audience for Your Subscription Box

Build your subscription box audience with these 5 proven strategies! Get engagement, attract subscribers, and grow your business from scratch.

Starting a subscription box from zero can feel overwhelming. You’ve got big ideas, a product you’re passionate about, and a dream of creating a super-engaged community that’s excited to hear from you. But where do you even begin?

I have good news. Although building an audience doesn’t happen overnight (or even over lots of nights), you don’t need a big budget or a viral video to build an engaged audience. 

What you do need is a strategy—a plan to consistently show up in the right places, deliver value, and connect with the people who need what you offer. Even if they don’t know it yet.

I’m sharing 5 proven, practical ways to grow your audience, even if you’re starting with zero followers. 

1. Leverage Social Media and Content Marketing

Audience building starts with social media. And before you start rolling your eyes or telling me you “hate social media,” I’ve got some tough love for you. 

First, I LOVE social media. Why? First, it’s a perfect way for this introvert to have fun and get social without leaving the house. 🤣 But seriously, social media is this fantastic, FREE resource at your fingertips. It gives you access to thousands and thousands of your perfect person if you take the time and make the effort to find and connect with them. 

Leveraging social media doesn’t mean trying to be everywhere. It’s not possible to be effective and consistent across a bunch of different platforms. 

Instead, choose one or two social media platforms that align with your target audience. Take time to find out where your people hang out. My ideal customer spends more time on Facebook than Instagram, so I get a lot more engagement there. 

Don’t post just to post. Post valuable content and post it consistently. Share tips, behind-the-scenes updates, and sneak peeks. Make your audience feel a part of what you’re doing. 

Video is still the BEST way to increase engagement and attract followers through organic reach. Get creative and have fun with short-form video. Again, real-life moments where you let your audience get to know you and your business are so effective. 

Recently, we had a great response to a fun, almost silly, video of two of the women who work in the Warehouse racing each other carrying stacks of empty boxes on packing day. Real life. Behind the scenes. Sharing the faces behind the business. It works! 

Check out this blog post for more on being authentic and connecting with your audience on social media. 

2. Build an Email List with a Lead Magnet

You need to build an audience on social media. But, you need to build an audience outside of social media, too. Remember when Facebook and Instagram went down for a day? Remember when TikTok was banned (briefly)? People who built their entire businesses on those platforms panicked. And they should have. 

You don’t own your social media accounts. Or the followers you gain to those accounts. 

But you do own your email list. An email list is a business asset. I call it my ATM. When I send an email out to my list, I get sales coming back in. 

One of the most effective ways to build your email list–with people who are actually interested in what you’re selling, is with a lead magnet. 

A lead magnet is simply something that attracts someone to your website or your business. It’s something you put out there that gets someone’s attention enough that they click on it. 

That click leads them to your website where they find what they’ve come to check out, like a freebie or a low-dollar ($10-$15) offer. 

Offer a valuable freebie in exchange for an email address:

• Tutorial 
• Checklist
• PDF 
• Exclusive access to a resource 

Offering a freebie is highly effective for growing and nurturing a community from scratch. 

Once you get people onto your email list, don’t forget to continue to nurture them and build connections. Communicate with them regularly, providing updates, educational content, and exclusive sneak peeks and promotions. 

Check out this blog post to learn more about downloadable freebie opt-ins. 

3. Host a Giveaway or Contest

Giveaways and contests are great ways to build your audience, gaining followers and email list subscribers. 

Make sure the prize aligns with your brand and attracts potential subscribers, not just prize-seekers. It should be related to your subscription box. 

Set up giveaway rules that promote engagement, asking entrants to tag friends or share your content. This will help broaden your reach and introduce you and your business to new audiences.  

Learn more about running a giveaway by listening to episode 81 of the Launch Your Box Podcast. 

4. Engage in Niche Communities and Forums

Where do “your people” hang out? Get online and do your research to identify online communities where your ideal audience gathers.  

These can be great sources of information, even helping you identify pain points and gather “voice of the customer” data and information. Be an active member by offering advice, answering questions, and sharing helpful resources.

One big caution. Avoid selling inside these groups. Many group rules prohibit selling. Instead, build trust by being genuinely helpful. People inside the groups will start to recognize you and your brand, seeing you as a source of information and even an expert. Some of them will naturally become followers and eventually customers or subscribers. 

5. Start a Blog or Podcast with Valuable Content

Evergreen content? Content that goes to work for you every day, long after an Instagram story disappears or a Facebook post gets buried in someone’s feed? Yep. 

A blog post or podcast interview lives on long after you write or record it. A blog or podcast can position you as an expert in your field, a source of information and inspiration to your audience. 

Put that content to work for you by using SEO strategies that help potential customers discover your content through search engines. 

Make this content part of your social media strategy. Promote new posts or episodes on social media to keep your existing followers engaged and encourage new ones to find you.

Check out this Launch Your Box Podcast interview with my own podcast manager to learn more. 

Building an audience for your subscription box won’t happen overnight. You don’t need luck, a huge budget, or a viral post or video. You do need consistency and the willingness to show up where your ideal customers are. 

I’m going to say it again. Be consistent. Every post, email, and engagement adds up, bringing you one step closer to an engaged audience that’s not just following, but ready and waiting to subscribe. 

Your audience is out there. Go find them!