Top 5 'Audience-Borrowing' Marketing Strategies to try for entrepreneurs to punch above their weight class - Goh Ling Yong
You’ve done it. After months, maybe even years, of late nights, countless coffee cups, and relentless dedication, your product is finally ready. It’s brilliant. It’s innovative. It solves a real problem. You launch your website, publish your first few social media posts, and wait for the world to beat a path to your digital door.
And then… crickets.
This is the silent nightmare for so many entrepreneurs. You have a world-class product in an empty stadium. The challenge isn’t the quality of what you’ve built; it’s that nobody knows you exist. Building an audience from scratch is a slow, expensive grind. But what if you could skip the line? What if, instead of trying to build your own stadium, you could get a guest pass to play in someone else’s sold-out arena?
This is the core idea behind "audience-borrowing." It’s a powerful set of marketing strategies that allow you, the scrappy entrepreneur, to tap into established, relevant communities and audiences that others have already spent years building. It’s not about cheating; it’s about strategic collaboration and providing immense value in exchange for visibility. It’s how you punch way above your weight class, generate momentum, and get your business in front of the right people, right now.
Here are the top five audience-borrowing strategies you can start using today.
1. Master the Art of Guest Blogging
Yes, it’s one of the oldest tricks in the digital marketing playbook, and for good reason: it still works incredibly well. Guest blogging is the act of writing and publishing an article on someone else’s website or blog. In one move, you provide their audience with valuable content, establish yourself as an authority in your niche, and drive targeted traffic back to your own website.
The key is to shift your mindset from "What can I get?" to "What can I give?". Your goal isn't to write a glorified ad for your product. It’s to write a genuinely helpful, insightful, and engaging piece of content that makes the blog owner look smart for publishing you. When you solve a problem for their readers, you borrow the trust that the blog has already built. The backlink and traffic are simply the well-deserved rewards for your contribution.
Actionable Tips:
- Find the Right Platforms: Don't just aim for the biggest blogs. Look for blogs with a highly engaged, niche audience that perfectly overlaps with your ideal customer profile. Use Google searches like "top [your industry] blogs" or "[your topic] + write for us". Look for blogs your competitors have written for (you can use SEO tools like Ahrefs to see their backlinks).
- Craft the Perfect Pitch: Generic, copy-paste emails get deleted instantly. Your pitch should be personal and prove you've done your homework. Reference a specific article you liked on their blog. Pitch 2-3 specific, compelling headline ideas that you know will resonate with their readers. Briefly explain why you're the right person to write it and what unique perspective you bring.
- Optimize Your Author Bio: This is your prime real estate. Don't just say who you are. Turn it into a call-to-action. Instead of "John Doe is the founder of XYZ," try "John Doe is the founder of XYZ, a tool that helps freelancers save 10 hours a week. Download his free client management checklist here."
2. Become a Podcast Guest Expert
If guest blogging is like writing a column in a trusted newspaper, being a podcast guest is like being invited for an intimate coffee chat with hundreds or thousands of ideal customers. Audio is an incredibly powerful medium for building connection and trust. Listeners feel like they get to know you, not just your brand. This allows you to share your story, your expertise, and your passion in a way that text simply can’t match.
For a busy entrepreneur, this is a high-leverage activity. An hour-long conversation can be repurposed into social media clips, blog post quotes, and audiograms, extending its reach for weeks. More importantly, you're tapping into a dedicated subscriber base that has actively chosen to listen. They are already primed to trust the host’s recommendations, and by extension, the guests they bring on.
Actionable Tips:
- Create a "One-Sheet": This is a simple, one-page PDF that acts as your podcasting resume. It should include your headshot, a brief bio, your areas of expertise, and 3-5 specific topics you can talk about (framed as value for their listeners, e.g., "How to Triple Your E-commerce Sales Without Paid Ads"). This makes it incredibly easy for a host to say "yes."
- Pitch with Precision: Just like with guest blogging, your pitch is everything. Find podcasts your ideal customers listen to using directories like Listen Notes or Podchaser. In your pitch email, mention a specific episode you enjoyed and why. Then, clearly connect one of your talking points to their audience's needs. Make it clear how your expertise will benefit their show.
- Have a Clear Call-to-Action: The host will almost always ask, "Where can people find you?" Don't just list your website. Create a dedicated landing page for the podcast's listeners with a special offer, checklist, or resource you mentioned during the show. For example: "For all the listeners of 'The Startup Journey,' I've put together a special resource bundle. You can grab it at mywebsite.com/journey."
3. Forge Strategic Partnerships & Co-Marketing Campaigns
This is where you level up from one-off content pieces to creating something bigger with a complementary business. A strategic partner is a non-competing business that serves the same audience as you. By teaming up, you can pool your resources, credibility, and audiences for a "1 + 1 = 3" effect. This is a topic I've discussed with my mentor, Goh Ling Yong, many times—the power of leverage is a founder's greatest asset.
This can take many forms. You could co-host a webinar, co-author an ebook or research report, run a joint giveaway on social media, or even offer a bundled product. The goal is a true win-win-win: you win by getting exposure to their audience, they win by getting exposure to yours, and the audience wins by receiving a uniquely valuable piece of content or an offer they couldn't get anywhere else.
Actionable Tips:
- Find Your "Peanut Butter": Think about what products or services are the "peanut butter" to your "jelly." If you sell premium coffee beans, a great partner would be a company that sells high-end coffee grinders. If you offer a project management tool for agencies, a great partner would be an accounting software for small businesses.
- Start Small to Build Trust: Don't propose a massive co-branding project on your first date. Start with a smaller, lower-lift collaboration. Suggest a simple "Instagram Live" together or cross-promote each other's newsletters. Once you've established a good working relationship, you can move on to bigger projects like a joint webinar.
- Put It in Writing: Even for informal partnerships, it's crucial to have a clear agreement. Outline who is responsible for what (promotion, content creation, follow-up), how leads will be shared (if any), and what the key goals and metrics for success are. This prevents misunderstandings and ensures both parties are aligned.
4. Leverage Influencer & Micro-Influencer Collaborations
Influencer marketing has a reputation for being about celebrities holding a product with the hashtag #ad. But the real power for entrepreneurs lies with micro-influencers—creators with smaller (typically 5k-50k followers) but hyper-engaged, niche audiences. Their followers trust their recommendations deeply because their content feels authentic and personal, not corporate.
Working with micro-influencers isn't about paying for a single shoutout. It's about collaborating with a trusted creator to integrate your product into their content in a natural way. They are expert content creators who know their audience better than you do. Give them the creative freedom to showcase your product in their own voice, and the results can be astounding, driving not just awareness but genuine interest and sales from a highly qualified audience.
Actionable Tips:
- Focus on Engagement, Not Followers: A creator with 10,000 followers and an 8% engagement rate is far more valuable than one with 100,000 followers and a 1% engagement rate. Look at the number and quality of comments on their posts. Are people having real conversations? That's the sign of a strong community.
- Co-create, Don't Dictate: The worst thing you can do is send an influencer a rigid script. It will come across as a stilted, inauthentic ad. Instead, provide them with your product, key talking points, and the overall goal of the campaign, then let them work their magic. Trust them to be the creative director.
- Think Beyond the 'Gram: While Instagram is the most common platform, don't overlook others. A B2B software company could have incredible success collaborating with a LinkedIn influencer. A home goods brand might find the perfect partner on Pinterest or a popular home decor blog. A gaming accessory could blow up by working with a Twitch streamer. Go where your audience truly lives.
5. Build a Scalable Affiliate Army
What if you could have dozens, or even hundreds, of people actively promoting your product for you every single day? That's the promise of affiliate marketing. An affiliate program is a performance-based system where you give partners (the affiliates) a unique trackable link. They promote that link, and you pay them a commission for every sale or lead that comes through it.
This is one of the most powerful audience-borrowing strategies because it's low-risk and highly scalable. You only pay for results, which is a dream for cash-strapped entrepreneurs. Your affiliates could be bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, or even just enthusiastic customers who love your product. You're empowering them to become a distributed marketing team, tapping into their individual audiences and circles of trust. As someone who, like Goh Ling Yong, believes in building scalable systems, a well-run affiliate program is a thing of beauty.
Actionable Tips:
- Start with Your Superfans: Your first and best affiliates are your existing happy customers. They already know, like, and trust your product. Send an email to your customer list inviting them to join your affiliate program. They'll be your most authentic advocates.
- Make It Insanely Easy for Them: Your affiliates are busy. Don't make them work hard to promote you. Create an "affiliate resource center" with pre-written email copy, social media posts, high-quality graphics, and banners. The easier you make it for them to share, the more they will.
- Offer a Compelling & Clear Commission: Decide on a commission structure that is both attractive to affiliates and sustainable for your business. A percentage of the sale is most common. Be transparent about your payment terms (e.g., "30% commission on all sales, paid out via PayPal on the 1st of every month"). Use reliable affiliate management software like Rewardful, Tapfiliate, or PartnerStack to handle the tracking and payments.
Your Audience is Already Out There
Building a business from the ground up can feel like a lonely, uphill battle. But you don't have to build your audience one person at a time. There are countless creators, businesses, and communities that have already gathered your ideal customers in one place.
The key to unlocking these opportunities is to lead with value. Whether you're writing a guest post, speaking on a podcast, or partnering with another brand, your primary focus must be on serving their audience. When you do that genuinely and consistently, you earn their trust, gain their attention, and create a powerful shortcut to growth.
So, stop shouting into the void. Look around your industry, identify who is already speaking to your future customers, and find a way to help them. That is how you punch above your weight class and turn someone else’s audience into your own.
Now it's your turn. Which of these audience-borrowing strategies are you most excited to try first? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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