Joint Venture

The First Thing I Always Do To Fill An Offering

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There are lots of awesome marketing avenues out there, and I put a number of them to practice in my business regularly.

But the truth is that before I employ any of the fancy marketing strategies — everything from Facebook ads to Joint Venture partnerships to even newsletter campaigns and launches — there is one thing I ALWAYS do FIRST.

And this one thing is absolute gold, because it is often, by far, much more powerful than all of the other marketing avenues combined.

In fact, this one little marketing strategy has helped me fill entire group coaching programs and masterminds with 25 women and more in it. (And it has helped my clients do amazing things, too!).

One thing that’s super important to me is that I keep my marketing and my marketing plans as simple as possible — my theory is that if I can spend less time and energy, that’s the route I want.

So what’s my simple, super-effective marketing avenue?

Individual Outreach.

Yes, it really is that simple. If you want to fill your offerings, the first place you want to start is by getting in touch with the people you know to see if they would like to step into your offering.

Why is this so effective?

Because the people that know you and love your work will always be quickest to invest in your services.

Now, you want to make sure you do individual outreach correctly (because if you do it the wrong way, it can backfire on you, and you’ll miss out on a chance to bring a highly aligned client in), and here are some of my tried and true tips for effective and easy Individual Outreach:

  1. Reach out to folks who you sense would be a really great fit for your offering.

    Doing individual outreach doesn’t mean reaching out to everyone, but it does mean having the courage to reach out to those folks you know — past clients, current clients ready to step into something new, prospects that have been hanging around, and anyone you met networking — and letting them know you’ve got a special opportunity you think they might be interested in. Don’t be scared to do this – if you reach out correctly, you won’t come off as pushy or aggressive. You’ll be thanked for being so thoughtful and likely end up with a new client.

  2. Keep the outreach individual and personalized (but use a template).

    The secret sauce that makes individual outreach so effective is that it’s personalized — and when your prospect receives the note you send them or your phone call, they know they aren’t “just another prospect”, but that you’ve really considered what would be best for them. Being thoughtful in this way goes a very long way.

    Don’t be tempted to send out a group email — as best you can, keep these outreaches on a 1-on-1 basis.

    Just because they are individualized doesn’t mean you can’t use an overarching template, and I highly recommend you do. Or else you’ll get tired pretty quickly!

  3. Throw out any market-y language and be personable, warm, and real.

    Along the same lines as keeping your outreach note personalized, you also want to keep your languaging real. Steer clear of anything that sounds market-y and instead, speak from your heart as you share your opportunity with your prospect.

  4. Just because you’re being personable doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand in your brilliance (including speaking about results and who the offering is for).

    Speaking from your heart can (& should!) absolutely include standing in your brilliance, sharing why your offering is going to be incredibly powerful and valuable, and deeply speaking to all that you’re offering. Don’t hold back on sharing the magnitude of the work out of fear.

  5. Tell your prospect why you specifically think she would be a great fit.

    This is so important and one of the reasons individual outreach is so powerful: you get to share with your prospect why you’re reaching out to him or her specifically, and you want to be very clear on why you sense your offering can really help them create the results they want. Use your knowledge of this person, where they struggle and what they really want for themselves, to articulate why they would be a great fit.

  6. Invite your prospect into a conversation with you.

    Don’t skip this part — it makes all the difference. After you describe your opportunity and share why you sense it would be a great fit for your prospect, don’t just leave it hanging. The next step is to connect for a conversation to explore more deeply how you can serve them. Don’t assume that your prospect will suggest this. It’s your responsibility to make this invitation to them.

So, if you haven’t been doing individual outreach to fill your offerings, I HIGHLY recommend that you start right away.

If you would like to learn about other ways you can fill your private practice, mastermind or group programs, get in touch right away. We’ll do a complimentary assessment of your business along with personalized strategies that will help you build your business and reach your goals. You can apply here for this 1-on-1 conversation.

With love,
Joanna

Make A Plan To Get Noticed! 5 Steps To Visibility

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You could dye your hair green. Get tattooed all over. Soup up your car so it bounces and shoots out sparks as you roll down the street.

All of these are sure-fire ways for you to get noticed. But if your goal is to gain in prosperity, abundance, and soul-centered visibility for your career or personal project, they probably aren’t the best way to get the kind of attention you crave!

If you’re a writer, a teacher, an entrepreneur, or even just looking for a positive change in your life, creating a strong plan for visibility is essential to your success. Without one, you’re likely to earn less, perform work you dislike or find unsatisfying, and fail to receive recognition or acknowledgement in the areas that matter to you.

I know that you’re passionate about what you do, and you’re good at it. But sometimes you are in the position where the clients aren’t there, or the agents aren’t there, or the press isn’t there, or the prospective employers aren’t there. And it looks like they’re not coming.

You know what happens next: you start beating yourself up, or judging yourself, or feeling victimized or in despair. You feel you just can’t do it, or you can’t get it right. It’s easy to get paralyzed and just stew in these negative thoughts!

The best way to protect yourself from this situation is to take action! And for you, the best action is to create a visibility plan that is effective, soul-centered and powerful.

If you follow the five steps outlined below, you’ll have a roadmap of how to create the visibility you need to get noticed for the incredible work you do.

5 Steps to Visibility

1. Plan in advance: Plan out at least 6 but no more than 12 months in advance so that you have time to prepare, time for contingency, and time to re-work any new ideas into the mix. Make sure your plan is not merely written on paper, but also woven into your work calendar and personal schedule.

If you don’t plan in advance, you’re going to find you’re always rushing to catch up, or two days too late for that conference application, press release submission, networking event, or community email.

2. Make it personal: When sharing your message, don’t assume or guess at what people might want from you. Instead, speak or write from what is true and authentic for you and who you are. Also, speak directly and personally to your audience.

When you reveal your real self through your marketing, and when you speak directly to your audience, your message is far more powerful than any “corporate-speak” that may seem professional, but is cold and impersonal.

3. Play to Your Strengths: There are so many awesome visibility tactics out there: newsletters, email, video, in-person workshops, social media, networking meetings, blogs, audio, referral programs, podcasts – this list goes on and on. No need to be cookie-cutter at all! Choose the methods that work best for you.

Choose those strategies that make the most sense for you and your soul-centered project. For example, if your newsletter and blog are your biggest visibility channels, but you just hate writing and it takes you hours to write a paragraph – choose a different channel! Or, if you’ve been mainly focusing on social media, but you’re the type of person that folks are immediately attracted to when they meet you in person, go to more networking events or do in-person presentations. The most effective visibility strategies are the ones that match how you show up best as well as how your ideal clients HEAR your message best.

4. Partner up: You can’t bring your big message and vision to the world alone. There is not one single person (unless they’ve already reached Oprah status) who has so many people in their sphere of influence that they can attract in visibility without creating partnerships and joint ventures.

Partnerships are one of the best visibility tools out there. When you enlist other individuals, organizations and businesses to help promote you and spread the word about your project, your ability to reach your ideal client increases exponentially.

5. Engage in Persistent and Consistent Action. P.C.A can make the difference between a successful plan and one that fizzles out.

Consistent Action = taking at least 3 actions towards your visibility strategies each working day. If you aren’t taking consistent action, then even the best-laid plan in the world isn’t going to work. Think about it in terms of a farm: you need to water and fertilize your crops regularly in order to generate a bountiful harvest.

Persistent Action = following-up. I know – for some of you, this is the “F” word of marketing. This is so important. Often times folks don’t “buy” or “connect in” on the first time you connect with them, so follow-up is 100% necessary in order to reach your visibility goals.

Homework: Now that you’ve got the 5 Soul-Centered Keys for Visibility, take the time to sit down and outline YOUR plan – in writing!

How Joint Venture Partnerships Turbo-Charge Your Marketing

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Are you ready to take your business marketing to the next level?

Do you want to expand your community, make fruitful new colleague relationships, grow your business, and even have a lot of fun doing it?

You can do all that with joint venture (JV) partnerships.

Just in case you’re unclear what a JV partnership is, here’s a definition: It’s when 2 or more organizations come together for the purpose of cross-promotion, expanding each other’s communities and visibilities, offering more to each other’s communities, and generally bringing in more business.

A JV partnership can happen both online and offline. It can be via email or social media, or of course in person and in conversations.

Why Pursue Joint Venture Partners?

The reason JV partnerships are so important is that as you grow your business, they’re one of the best ways to expand and grow your client community. If you want your business to expand, your community is going to need to expand.

You need more people to know about you, and a JV partnership is one of the quickest ways to get that exposure. It allows you to have direct access to like-minded entrepreneurs and their communities.

Who Should Do JV Partnerships & When?

JV partnerships are not only good if you’re starting out – they should happen throughout the lifespan of your business. And they’re not just for small business, either: lots of really big corporations do JV partnerships. For example, if you have a credit card that awards miles for an airline, that’s a JV partnership between the card company and the airline. Can you think of fast food offers to the local amusement park or movie theaters? All these are examples of two businesses coming together to cross-promote each other to build more business.

In addition to being vitally important to building your community, JV partnerships are also a lot of fun, and allow you to feel much more connected. So often when you’re a solo-preneur, you’re only connecting with clients. It’s a very different relationship when you connect with other entrepreneurs. It can be rewarding in different and very interesting ways, and there are so many enjoyable and worthwhile ways to team up.

Types of JV Partnerships

  • Referral partner. For example, let’s say you’re a yoga instructor and you team up with a physical therapist in your neighborhood. Because you like the way the other works and you know that your clients could use each other’s services, you agree to promote one another to your own clients whenever it’s appropriate.
  • Event promotion. You team up with another entrepreneur to promote an event (usually via email). This could be a special deal, a free class, or a website launch – anything that happens for only a short time or for one-time only. This works best for things that are not expensive – it should be either free or relatively inexpensive because the partner’s community is just getting to know you. Once those people are in your community, then they are more ready to engage in your services in a bigger way.
  • Guest Hosting. When you are hosted by another entrepreneur either virtually or in real life. Maybe you’re a nutritional coach and you give a free or low-cost talk to a fitness center you partner with. Or you could be a guest speaker at a teleclass they are hosting. The host partner sets up the event and promotes you to their community.
  • Host a Telesummit. Choose a topic for the telesummit and then connect with anywhere from 7 – 15 entrepreneurs who are experts on that topic. Host a different call each day where you interview one expert, or do it over the course of 2 days. Sometimes you can be the interviewer or sometimes the partner just gives a talk. These can be live or prerecorded. The partner gets a platform to speak from and make an offering to the listeners. As the organizer, what you receive is that the partner sends emails about the telesummit to their community, and anyone who registers becomes part of your community now. This can add up to many, many new people in your community.
  • Gift Giveaway. A group of entrepreneurs or organizations, each with some kind of free gift to offer to the combined communities. The gift could be anything from an e-book to a manual to a free session of some kind. When you are the host of the giveaway, when someone registers for any of these giveaways, you capture their email address and they become part of your community. Similarly, when you are a participant, your business gets exposed to the communities of the host and the other participants.
  • Joint Event. For example a yoga instructor and nutritional coach team up to do an afternoon workshop. You get similar audiences, cross-promote each other, and you both get lots of targeted exposure.
  • Guest Blogging/Article Writing. If a partner sends out a newsletter or blog that is well-read, you can provide fresh content for them, and you get exposure to their community.
  • Product/Service Partnership. For example, if your Pilates studio is down the street from a local shop selling workout gear, you might offer that your teachers will exclusively wear and recommend the shop’s leggings in exchange for a similar recommendation of your studio from the shop to their customers.
  • Raffles and Auctions. Many schools and non-profit organizations need to raise money for supplies and extracurricular activities and frequently feature the services of local entrepreneurs as the biddable donated prizes. You get exposure to the school community, the school benefits from the money bid on your offer, and you will gain one new client for sure!

I hope this list has gotten your creative juices flowing and that you’re starting to think about possibilities for your business or soul-centered project. Are your internal gears turning? What other kinds of JV partnerships could you forge for your business?