The 2 Audience Types You Need To Build In 2026

🚨Free Live Masterclass: Thursday, January 8th

The 3 Biggest Mistakes Successful Founders Make When Building a Personal Brand, hosted by Clifton Sellers, a top 3 branding expert in the U.S.

Join us for a free live masterclass where Clifton will break down the exact roadmap he’s used to help agency owners, founders, and operators scale to $4M+ using content that builds trust, not just traffic.

What you’ll learn:

→ How to build systems that turn your expertise into authority
→ Why “just post more” is the worst advice out there
→ The playbook we’ve used with founders at Cal.com, Mighty Networks & more

📅 Thursday, January 8th @ 1:00pm CST

Reserve your free seat here

The Two Audiences You Need: Buyers and Believers

Most founders only focus on content that attracts clients.

But the best personal brands are built by earning two audiences:

• Buyers: the ones who convert

• Believers: the ones who amplify

Buyers trust your expertise.

Believers spread your message.

You earn both by showing up consistently with clear, useful content, not just selling, but sharing ideas worth repeating.

• Buyers bring revenue.

• Believers build momentum.

• You need both.

Focus your content not just on converting, but on resonating.

That’s how reach becomes reputation. And reputation becomes deal flow.

Share a “Lesson You Paid For”

Prompt:

What’s a painful (or expensive) lesson you’ve learned in your business this year?

Share the story, what went wrong, and what you’d do differently next time.

Why it works:

These are the posts people remember.

They’re raw, real, and useful… especially for the audience who’s a few steps behind you.

Vulnerability builds trust, and hindsight gives others foresight.

You don’t need to overshare or dramatize it.

Just tell the truth.

Whether it was a missed hire, a product flop, or a campaign that tanked, your lessons are valuable content.

Especially when they’re hard-won.

Try this:

• Write the story in 6-10 sentences

• End with “What I’d do differently”

• Post it this week

The content that costs you something is often what builds the most trust.

Your Goal For 2026: Be Able to Explain These 3 Things to Someone in 1 Sentence

One of the simplest… and most overlooked growth levers heading into 2026?

Get ultra clear on your messaging and positioning.

Too many founders still fumble when someone asks:

“So what do you do?”

They try to go high level, overcomplicate it, and use jargon.

And the other person checks out.

If you want to build trust online, in-person, or anywhere in between… start with a sentence.

Your goal in 2026 should be to get crystal clear on three things:

1. What you do

2. Who it’s for

3. Why they should care

Here are a few examples to get an idea of what yours could be:

Example 1:

“I work with B2B founders to help them publish consistent content that builds trust with their audience and brings in better leads.”

• What you do: Help them publish content

• Who it’s for: B2B founders

• Why they care: Builds trust, better leads

Example 2:

“I run a small hiring firm… we help startups find experienced remote developers without all the hassle or long timelines.”

• What you do: Hiring firm

• Who it’s for: Startups

• Why they care: Fast and simple hiring

Example 3:

“I coach agency owners who’ve hit a plateau, usually around $30–50K/month, and help them simplify their offers so they can grow without working more.”

• What you do: Coach for scaling

• Who it’s for: Agency owners

• Why they care: Growth without burnout

Whether you’re speaking to a client, investor, or partner, the answer should be consistent and compelling.

It can take 2-3 sentences, depending on your business and industry.

But the point stands… get clear and concise on those 3 things.

And founders who own their message… attract the right people faster.

Newsletter Readership Continues to Climb

Even as social platforms shift algorithms and attention moves in unpredictable ways, one channel continues to hold strong: email newsletters.

Recent data shows:

• Newsletters routinely outperform other email types in engagement, earning open rates 15–20% higher than promotional messages due to their educational and community‑building role.
  

• Across industries, average email open rates sit around ~35–42% in 2025, a solid benchmark for founders building their own owned audience. 
  

• Email usage remains nearly universal: 99% of people check their email at least once a day, making the inbox a reliable place to reach attention that social algorithms can’t guarantee. 
  

• Other research highlights that products, services, and memberships sold via newsletters are growing in profitability, with a meaningful portion of publishers reporting substantial profit growth year over year. 

Why It Matters For Founders

Social feeds can be noisy, unpredictable, and driven by algorithm changes you can’t control.

A newsletter gives you:

• Owned reach: You don’t depend on a platform’s whims or algorithm tweaks.

• Direct engagement: People choose to opt in, and that intent matters.

• High ROI: Email consistently delivers strong returns and trust-building engagement.

• Longevity: Readers subscribe once and can stay connected for years.

In 2026, content strategy isn’t just about posting, it’s about owning your audience. Newsletters are one of the most effective ways to do that.

Legacy Builder — Our flagship content strategy and writing service. We help founders become the authority in their niche by building a repeatable system for newsletters, social content, and thought leadership that attracts clients and opportunities.

Ingage — The community & workflow system for building authority online. What if growing your brand was simple and structured? Ingage helps you run daily content campaigns, track results, and grow through community-driven support.

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🤝 Get In Front of My Audience — With more than 85,000+ newsletter subscribers, 360,000+ X/Twitter followers, and 40,000+ LinkedIn followers, my team and I work with dozens of partners in unique ways to help them grow. Interested in a partnership, reply to this email “Partnership.”