Remember the saying that is isn’t what you know but who you know?
I’ve seen this in action over the last few months and want to share a few stories with you that illustrate the importance of partnerships to help you build your list. I’m sure you have heard this many times from many people, and until you’ve seen the principle of having a powerful partner promote your stuff it certainly is easy to push it aside.
I have had the privilege of witnessing partners promoting events for a few of my clients over the past few months and the results were amazing. Let me share a couple of stories here with you…
In the first story I am sharing, the client partnered with a mentor on a free training call. The mentor promoted and reached out to her personal network to promote the call. What happened was that in 7 days the client went from 0 registered for the call to 140+ registered for the call. Now this client has 140+ new warm leads to market to on their list.
The second story is even more amazing to me as I have never seen a list build so powerfully from a promotional partner. In this case the promotional partner has a 1 million + following on Facebook – not many people can boast of having a following like that can they? Anyways this person was willing to promote their partner who was a newbie to the business with under 10 people on their entire list.
The result was that in 2 days the client had 400+ people registered for their training call.
The lesson here is that if you want to incrementally build your list and your business, its time to start thinking strategically about promotional partners.
If you are new in your business you may not be as lucky as my two clients to have such influential people in your inner circle. And it is never too soon to start forming partnerships with people who can help you build your business.
7 tips to help you build your list of promotional partners
1. Read the Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard
Brendon has written an entire chapter on how to find and reach out to potential promotional partners. There’s even sample copy on what to say and write when reaching out to a promotional partner to help you build your list. Not only is that chapter good reading, you’ll the rest of the book is full of information you can use to build your list and your business.
2. Connect with potential partners at events.
Attending events related to your niche or events hosted by big names in the internet marketing industry are prime places to meet potential partners. You’ll want to research who is attending the event – one way is to look at the list of people who are exhibitors and advertisers. Generally those people are influential and would make good partners. Then you will want to either reach out to them before the event and set up a time to meet. Or be on the lookout for them at the event and head on over and introduce yourself. Lots of business is done in the evenings at event so be sure to not hide out in your hotel room and head to where ever you see people gathering.
Even if the people you meet don’t end up partnering with you, it is a good thing to get to know people who are influential. You may end up making a new friend or want to promote their products and earning some affiliate income. Just have fun, meet new people and see what happens!
3. Connect with potential partners on social media
I’ve done this and it works! The thing to remember here is when you are reaching out to people it’s all about getting related first and not asking them to promote you and your products. Doing that is a sure way to turn them off. Don’t you hate it when people you know immediately start pitching their stuff to you right after you meet them on social media? It’s obnoxious to behave this way.
I find the best tactic is to politely introduce yourself and see if you can meet with them to chat and find out more about what they do and then offer to help them when you meet them. You need to give first.
4. Ask your business coach or mentor
If you are coaching with someone who is influential, by all means ask them to help you build your list. It is in their best interest for you to get great results from working with them! Plus I know that you don’t get things unless you first ask for them.
Look at my two clients, both of them got help from their mentors/coaches and I know they would not have had the results they got without this help.
5. Ask people in your coaching or mastermind group
If you are in a coaching group or mastermind group I would do a little research on the people who are in your group, then get to know them and suggest some sort of way that you can cross promote to build your list. I suggest that you should take time and get to know people before suggesting this sort of partnership.
6. Join a forum
Research and join an online forum with the intention of finding and connecting with potential partners
There are lots of forums around where people in your same niche or related niches are. Join one with the intent of meeting some potential partners whose ideal client would benefit from your content and vice-versa. This makes for an ideal promotional partner situation where you can cross promote, write content for each others blog or even do a joint training call. The list is endless if you think about it.
7. Comment regularly on Blogs
Make a list of people you’d like to partner with and read their blog posts weekly. Using this method is great way to connect with a potential promotional partner. Get noticed by commenting on their blog on a regular basis. Do this for a while and also be sure to share their content on social media. Trust me, the people who you want to get to know will notice you if you start hanging around and commenting on their blog. I caution you to be sincere and not do this because you want something from them. Do it because you respect the person and have something constructive to say about their content.
As a bonus, you’ll find that regularly commenting on blogs will drive additional traffic back to your site. Especially if your comments are relevant. Do not, I repeat do not use this as a means of self promotion. That is considered bad manners.
I suggest that you research and target a list of 10-15 people you would like to get to know and eventually partner with. I would approach them through the 7 different ways that I suggest here. I would approach them with the intent of getting to know them first and before suggesting a partnership unless you already know them well. I say this for two reasons; one is that you may look too desperate or self centered and the other is that you need to take time to get to know them and make sure they are a good fit for your business.
Get all of the information on building a BIG list on this handy resource page I’ve created: How to build an email list.
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