Hey Coach Ponyling!
I hope your day is going fabulously.
In these times, it may involve *mostly* staying at home, with your day pajamas on, wondering if you’ve brushed your hair.
So, why not use that time to market your business?
No hair brushing required!
Okay… a *little* hair brushing required.
I know, right now you might be wondering: “BUT HOW???”
How do I market my business from home?
Maybe you love to speak to groups, or just chat with real people, and social-distancing has made it *extremely trying* to do any of these things.
Maybe you also hate social media, and the thought of trying to be on Instagram or Facebook right now has you reaching for the stress-cheetos.
No worries!
Here’s some help!
Like speaking to large groups?
Awesome!
It’s time to start finding relevant partners with in-built audiences to host your webinars.
There’s no better time to do a webinar as we are all online and looking for fun live content. You still get to speak, and you don’t have to leave your house!
I used to do this all of the time when speaking was my main marketing platform. I researched organizations that catered to my demographic and either: 1) Already did webinars (yay!) or 2) Didn’t do webinars but in my humble opinion SHOULD have done webinars.
In either case I pitched them on why I had a great webinar topic that would serve their audience, and why I was also a good fit as a speaker and they could trust me to deliver great content.
If they didn’t do webinars I also helpfully shared some reasons as to why I thought their audience would benefit and how easy it would be to set up.
Did I get rejected? Yes! Many times. But several of the organizations who rejected me then let me speak when I pitched them again, and eventually were proactively reaching out to me to come back.
The best news? I didn’t have to worry about how to fill the seats to the webinar, as they did it for me. YES!
Here’s a helpful blog on how to get speaking engagements if you need it!
Like talking to small groups or to someone one-on-one?
Great!
Start pitching yourself to be a podcast guest and get interviewed on podcasts that cater to your demographic/niche.
You’ll get the fun experience of feeling like you are speaking just to one person in a conversation, and your business will get the fun experience of potentially reaching many people.
A great way to start is to wander over to iTunes and do some research on podcasts to see which ones do interviews and have guests in the area of your coaching niche. You can also check out bloggers using the magical powers of google and see which of your favorite blogs *might also* have a podcast.
Make a list, review each podcast in detail, and then do a tailored pitch to them highlighting a topic you think would be great for their people.
Note: If they have a pitch guide or formula, for the love of chocolate make sure to follow it!
Nothing will eliminate you faster than an obvious “cut-and-paste” half-a**ed pitch that shows you put in zero effort. Would you want a zero-effort guest on your show? No? Me neither.
Like building relationships and generating referrals as your marketing tool?
Excellent!
Start researching coaches who cater to your demographic, or other related businesses (if you are a divorce coach, you might reach out to divorce lawyers, for instance), and build some relationships.
Invite people to a virtual coffee, and offer to help them in a way that feels good to you (and them) to jump start the relationship.
To make sure you get a response, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Check out their website, see if they have a podcast or FB page. Think about why they would make a good connection or partner for you, and more importantly, WHY YOU WILL MAKE A GOOD PARTNER FOR THEM.
People are self-interested, so they are more willing to help you if you demonstrate that you can also help them.
Pitches that I hate:
“Hey Christie, I have this awesome idea about partnership – let’s get some time to chat asap!!” <—This is bad for so many reasons, but primarily it’s bad because it’s making me or my team do the work to determine who you are and why I should talk to you, and is *also* asking me to take a flying leap with my time based on nothing. DO NOT DO THIS, it’s basically spam. (If you do this to us, my team won’t respond. Here’s why: If you put this little effort into contacting us, we will put the same amount of effort into our response).
Pitches I don’t hate:
“Hey Christie and Team Pony, I’ve read [insert blog] and watched [insert video]. Here’s what resonated the most with me [insert sincere insight or compliment showing you were paying attention to what I do and that you’ve invested time in learning about me before reaching out]. I’m reaching out because I’d love to refer coaches to you, and I was wondering if you have a specific place you want me to send folks. I have a community of 500 coaches that I think would love your work! And if you would like to hop on a call to chat so I can help you better, let me know and I’ll find a time that’s convenient for you.” <—This person has demonstrated credibility, they aren’t asking for my time for no reason, and they’ve thought about how to help me, before asking me to help them.
Once you establish a relationship, perhaps you’ll agree to refer business to each other, or maybe you could offer to send an email to your community on their behalf, or you could even partner together on an offering. There are any one of a number of ideas that could work.
Once you’ve done that, pat yourself on the back! You’ve now created some referral traffic for yourself.
Note: Make sure to choose someone who has the same values that you do, and be clear on any referral bonuses or arrangements up front.
Want more marketing help?
Of *course* you do. You probably have questions like “what do I say in my marketing copy” and “why aren’t people responding?” or even “What big mistakes am I making?”
DO NOT FRET. I’ve got answers to all of the above and then some in this FREE, 14-minute, on-demand webinar all about the 5 marketing mistakes new coaches make + how to fix them. It’s free *and it’s only 14 minutes long* so why not grab a pen and your couch and get your coaching business out into the world?
