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3 Keys to Getting Bigger Players to Promote You

By: Tad | Published: September 3, 2011 · Leave a Comment

My colleagues Jesse and Sharla have a lot of real world marketing advice for life coaches and holistic practitioners. You can get some free training from them if you click here.

If you follow my work, you know that I talk a lot about hubs. The idea that trying to reach people cold is suuuuper hard. So, it’s better to work through hubs. But there are a lot of ways to do it wrong. These are some great starting places.

3 Keys to Getting Bigger Players to Promote You
by Jesse Koren and Sharla Jacobs

Creating strategic alliances is one of the best strategies to use for reaching more people with less effort. When you combine your resources with a partner like this, the sum total is far greater than the sum of the parts, and your marketing efforts seem effortless in comparison to marketing to one client at a time. It’s like this: 1 + 1 = 11.

But what do you say? How do you approach them? How do you avoid saying the thing that would turn them off immediately (and make them think you’re an amateur)?

We know what it feels like to be ready and hungry to help people…and then to have the very person who can help you get the word out in a bigger way be right there in front of you.

If you’ve been to the Rejuvenate Your Practice 2-Day Intensive, then you’ve heard the story of how I (Sharla) signed up for a $15,000 mastermind program just to create a relationship with a woman who could introduce us to thousands of our ideal clients.

What you may not know is that I was a part of the program for ONE FULL YEAR before I had the guts to ask Ali Brown to promote for us! (Well, the truth is I was too nervous and lacked the confidence to ASK and it just so happened that Ali thought I had asked and reminded me about scheduling the teleseminar interview!)

That interview really kicked off our teleseminar career. We sold over $12,000 worth of product during that interview and got multiple invitations for more interviews, just from this one call.

So, we know what it’s like to not know what to say and not want to screw up the chance to get promoted by someone big in your industry. And we’ve seen so many coaches and holistic practitioners make some big mistakes when it comes to asking others to promote for them.

We want you to avoid these mistakes, which is why we are sharing these 3 keys with you for how to get bigger players to promote you.

Key #1: Show Up with your Best Energy

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone at a networking event and their energy was so low, you just wanted to run away? You don’t EVER want to be the person people feel repelled by, whether you’re in a conversation with a potential client or a potential strategic alliance.

Instead, you want to raise your energy and vibration to MATCH your potential strategic alliance.

As you’re about to head off to an event or about to pick up the phone to connect with a bigger player, ask yourself, “Do I like myself?” “Would I promote for myself?” If not, do whatever you need to do to change your energy state so that when you look in the mirror, you like the person who is gazing back at you.

You can:

Dance

Get a massage

Meditate

Visualize something that makes you feel great

We all have different parts of ourselves. Are you able to switch on your BEST self when you’re about to talk with a potential strategic alliance?

Key #2: Position Yourself

So you’ve turned on your best self, you’re feeling great and you’re ready to have a Heartselling conversation with a bigger player. But did you know they get approached by tons of other people all the time to promote their stuff? So how are you going to stand out?

The key here is Positioning.

What is positioning? It’s the art of creating a perception in the mind of your listener so they get that you’re a person worth talking to.

Here’s an example. If we met at an event and I was attending the event (rather than being a speaker, which by the way, gives you INSTANT positioning), and I introduced myself and told you we teach coaches and holistic practitioners how to make $10,000 per month seeing clients just 3 days each week, you might think that was interesting.

If I then told you that we’ve personally taught over 10,000 holistic practitioners or that about 40 of our clients were here at the event with us, what happens in your mind?

Do you see how simply sharing some powerful statistics about yourself can make a huge difference in the conversation?

Here are a couple of tips:

Make sure to position yourself as an expert within the first 30-60 seconds of the conversation. This changes the tone of the conversation immediately.

Put your best foot forward. You can do this in a few different ways. You can share a statistic of how many clients you’ve helped or who you’re associated with. (Hint: being associated with someone famous or a guru in your industry does lots for powerful positioning.)

You’ll find that when you position yourself early on in the conversation, the bigger player will automatically take you more seriously and is more likely to consider you as a possible strategic alliance.

Key #3: Show up in Service

If you’ve ever been in a conversation where you felt like someone was trying to GET something from you, you know how uncomfortable that can feel (and you know how quickly you want to exit the conversation).

However, when you’re with someone who shows up from a place of abundance and wants to serve you, you can stay in that conversation forever, right?

When you’re approaching a bigger player (just like a Heartselling conversation with a potential client), you want to think about how you can serve THEM, rather than the other way around.

Do you see how coming from service can lead to a beautiful partnership?

Next time you’re talking to a bigger player, ask yourself, “What can I do for them?” Perhaps they would like to be interviewed or featured. Perhaps you have some other gift to share that isn’t always about cross promoting.

Always be thinking about how YOU can add value, no matter what level you’re playing at.

If you are asking someone to promote for you, ALWAYS ask them to invite their people to something valuable and free so they can look like a hero to their people. They can invite people to a free interview, teleseminar, workshop or video. And then from there, you can take over with the self-promotion.

So use these 3 keys when talking with bigger players and watch some magic happen for you!

We invite you to share your thoughts with us about this article on our Facebook Fan Page

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: identifying your hubs, Networking - Tags: hubs

The Four Keys to Getting New Clients

By: Tad | Published: July 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Each of these components can help you attract more brand new clients and each level can help you get the most out of your existing relationships.

The first component is the niche. The niche is your target market. It’s who you’re going after. This is the center of any marketing. When I talked to Dominic he and I were both commiserating that whenever we would get confused in terms of helping clients or clients would get fuzzy about a next step, not being sure what to do, it always came back to this. About looking at the niche of who are you going after.

The second component is the irresistible offer. What are you offering to this niche? A lot of people make the mistake in marketing of thinking, “Oh, I’m going to design this product and service,” and then it’s like, “How do I market it?” is a separate step.

I think if we’re going to be successful in business we need to step back and think of the marketing in the design process itself. Meaning, how can we make the product so irresistible inherently, that it’s easy to sell, versus just a generic sort of bland, boring product and service and then figuring out how we can sort of sell the sizzle and not the steak. That’s the second component is the offer.

The third component is the hubs. This was one of the things that really made so much sense to me when I was talking with Dominic. A lot of people at my trainings would say, “Well where do I advertise? Where do I market? How do I find people?”

I never really knew how to answer that. I always give kind of vague answers but now the answer’s really clear for me. Where you find them depends entirely on who you’re looking for. One group of people is going to hang out in one place. Another group’s going to hang out in another place.

It’s not just about where to find them. It’s also about a way to build trust with them. That’s a lot more powerful than other things you may have tried. So that’s the third component, the hubs.

The first is the niche. Second, what are we offering them? Third the hubs, where do we find them?

And fourth, word of mouth strategies. Again you’re already getting passive word of mouth but are there things you can do to accelerate it and get more word of mouth? Yes.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: identifying your hubs, marketing strategy, The Irresistible Offer, word of mouth - Tags: attraction, hubs, irresistible offers, marketing, niche

Nine Qualities of a Good Hub

By: Tad | Published: July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Once you’ve identified the niche you want to attract, it’s probably a good idea to ask yourself, “Where do they already spend time, money or attention? What are the events, groups, businesses that they already trust? Who are the individuals they respect?” After all, if you can align yourself with those groups – those hubs – well, you’ve made your life much easier.

But what makes a good hub in your niche’s network?

9 things . . .

1. credibility: they are trusted and respected by your niche, they are influential to the life, work, opinions and practices of your niche (e.g. maybe they’re pushing the envelope, on the cutting edge and an industry leader or maybe they’re committed to the basics etc).

2. reach: they have a large sphere of influence and reach a lot of people within your niche

3. list: already established, well organized and set up communication mechanisms through which they are regularly in touch with your niche (e.g. email list, mailing list, blog etc).

4. mutual respect: you already know them and they trust you, you have an authentic relationship with them, you genuinely respect them and already endorse their work to your clients and friends, you’re a really big fan of theirs

5. cooperative: they are open to endorsing quality things to their list, they’re excited to partner and collaborate

6. active relationship with niche: your niche already spends a good deal of money, time and attention on or with them

7. shared vision: you share a common vision and set of values

8. fresh: you haven’t maxed out this relationship already (e.g. maybe they’ve already endorsed you to everyone they can think of)

9. service: they’re passionate about meeting the needs of your niche

NOTE: You may have to create your OWN hub if none exists and be a host for your community.

| Categories: identifying your hubs, marketing strategy - Tags: building trust, hubs, safety

The Seven Kinds of Hubs

By: Tad | Published: July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Hubs can help you spread the word.

Why? They’re well connected and well respected.

They’re like the one’s and two’s in the photo to the right. Their circles overlap a lot of other people’s circles. An endorsement from a ’1′ can mean more to you than an endorsement from ten ’4′s. Placement in the ‘right’ media can save you a lot of time and money.

When you start thinking about your niche market, and how to reach them with effective word of mouth marketing – you immediately need to start thinking about the ‘hubs’ in their networks. You need to ask yourself, “who do they already trust?”

Luckily, it’s not that hard.

These seven questions will take you most of the way there.

1. EVENTS & LOCATIONS: Where does your niche gather, congregate, celebrate and hangout?

2. BUSINESSES: Where do they already spend their money?

3. GROUPS: What formal groups are they a part of?

4. SUPPORT: What resources or groups exist to support them?

5. WEBSEARCH: if your niche were to search for a solution to their problems on google, what would they type in?

6. PUBLICATIONS (on and offline): Where do they go for news and information that is relevant, credible and valuable for them?

7. INDIVIDUALS: Which individuals do they most trust (whether globally or locally)?

| Categories: identifying your hubs - Tags: building trust, hubs, safety

Creating Your Hubs Database (why does no one teach this?)

By: Tad | Published: July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment

It occurred to me recently that the bulk of my business has come from this one technique.

But it’s something I do that I’d never taught explicitly. Or ever seen taught.

If you’ve followed my work at all, you’ve heard about how important it is to identify your hubs. To think about, ‘who is it I’m trying to reach? And who’s already connected to them? Where can I find them?’

And you might have also heard me harp on how critical it is to have a customer database. Huge.

But let’s combine those two notions: database + hubs = a database of your hubs.

Here’s a practical thing you can do immediately that could change your business entirely.

Create a spreadsheet in excel or what have you with the following columns:

Priority: what priority are they to you? how good a hub? Try to give everyone on it a 1, 2 or a 3. 1 is a super good hub and 3 is just okay’.

Type: in my case there are holistic schools as one type. Then there are groups, holistic centers, people, retail and online listing type hubs.

Niche: what niches are they focused on? In my case, it’s either green or holistic or both.

Group/Business Name:

Contact Name: Who is the best person for you to talk with there to make things happen?

City/Province: Where are they? If you’re limiting your reach to a city – you might make it neighbourhood based. If you’re international, you might make it country based.

Email:

Website:

Who Referred Them: This is great to keep track of. Then when you call them or email them you can remember to say, “I was talking with _____ and they said to call you.”

And I would challenge you to see if you can come up with 100 hubs for your business. This sounds hard but it’s actually easy once you sit down and really focus on it. Once you’ve got this database you’ve got a lot of directions you can go. You’ve got a list of key people to invite to your special parties, to take to lunch, to give special invites to on your events, to ask to spread the word to their lists. How to use this list is another topic. But having this kind of database can be a total game changer for people.

| Categories: identifying your hubs, marketing tactics - Tags: building trust, hubs

The Five Biggest Mistakes That Will Stop You From Ever Being Seen as a Hub

By: Tad | Published: July 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

All five of these mistakes have to do with how we ‘see’ and relate to marketing. I want to suggest that it is a challenge to see marketing as something that is:

one time vs. relationship building: some people have the idea that they’re going to put out some marketing (e.g. a website, billboard, poster, ad in a magazine etc) and that their ideal customer will see it and just instantly want to BUY NOW. You’re much more likely to succeed if you see marketing as a natural process of building trust and familiarity over time.

urgent vs. patient: many entrepreneurs have this fear that, “If I don’t pitch them right now and promote myself I’ll totally lose this opportunity forever!” But that sort of desperate attitude turns people off. You’re more likely to succeed if you can focus on building a real, ‘feel good’ connection with them and trust that it will evolve naturally as it should. This is also solid dating advice.

one directional vs. a larger conversation: the old style of marketing basically can be summed up as ‘talking at’ your potential clients. You put up a billboard and they read it. You place an ad – they read it. You put an ad on the radio – they listen to it. But they can’t talk back. This is largely old news: you’re far more likely to succeed if you see marketing as a conversation not a monologue. So, marketing is about creating a conversation between you and them. But also helping them to communicate with others in the scene. This could take the form of online forums, parties you host, a blog you write that people can comment on. etc.

the agenda to sell vs. the agenda to serve: have you ever given money to a non-profit and all they ever do is ask you for more money? Or added a facebook friend and all they do is send you self promoting stuff? Or gotten on someone’s email newsletter (likely without even asking to be) and been barraged with pitches for their services? This kind of marketing is going the way of the dodo. You’re more likely to succeed if you follow the 80/20 rule where 80% of your communications need to be about adding value. Giving without asking for anything in return. When you do this – you become seen as a source of good things. You are earning people’s attention. If you don’t you risk being ‘hidden’ on facebook or having mass numbers of people unsubscribe from your newsletter.

immediate vs. organic: many entrepreneurs live in silent hope that the impacts of their marketing will be immediate. They hope that every time up to bat they’ll hit a homerun on the first pitch. You’re more likely to succeed if you realize that relationships develop at their own pace. That your potential clients need to be given space to decide when and how they want to interact with you on their own terms. And that sometimes this process is slower than we might hope.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing philosophy - Tags: becoming a hub, conversations, hubs

Eight Key Benefits of Becoming a Hub

By: Tad | Published: July 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Consider what it could mean for your business to become a hub:

the community adopts you deep into the fabric of their ‘scene’

you will enjoy deep, reserves of trust because people know you’re not just in it for the money’

you become revered as a ‘trusted advisor‘ on not only the things you sell, but on the whole scene (e.g. if you’re a magician, people call to get your advice on other entertainers in general. If you’re a reiki practitioner, people look to you for guidance on holistic health in general).

by becoming a hub, you create a virtuous, self-reinforcing, collaborative, upward spiral not only help to grow your business – but you help to grow the whole ‘scene’ . . . which then grows your business more.

it’s not so much that you end up getting a bigger slice of the pie for yourself – but that you help make a bigger pie for everyone (e.g. not only are you selling more of your fair trade products – but more people are buying fairtrade period).

By being willing to stand up for your values and sense of value in business you become a powerful voice in your industry – an industry leader, critic. Challenge your own industry to a higher standard of conduct. Integrity.

Your community sees you as their advocate and defender.

People read your emails and communications because you’re such an incredible ‘hook up’.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of
my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing philosophy - Tags: becoming a hub, hubs, trusted advisor

Hub Marketing: The Three Levels of Your Marketing Strategy

By: Tad | Published: July 7, 2010 · 14 Comments

From all my traveling and learning I have learned that there are a lot of approaches to marketing. But only one that really works in the long term.

Hub Marketing.

What does that mean?

Let me break it down into three levels of marketing: cold, warm and hot. I think you’ll see why the ‘hot’ level is the one you want to be at.

Three Approaches to Marketing:

LEVEL 1 – COLD

THE COLD APPROACH

This level is a 10:1 ratio.

10 units of effort for 1 unit of reward. You put in a lot of time and money and get very, very little out.

At this level, you start with all the people you know (family and friends) and then . . . you quickly run out.

And then we’re left with approaching people ‘cold’. Meaning, they totally don’t know us. No relationship. We’re talking to strangers about our business. At this level we’re just getting our name out there. We’re talking to everyone we can. We’re attending random mixers, business luncheons and networking events. We’re asking our clients to ‘tell their friends’ about us (when we remember to do it). We might even be cold calling (ugh).

But the challenge with this level is that it’s incredibly time consuming and not that effective. And that leaves us feeling desperate and in a constant level of crisis. This is most marketing out there. Most marketing fails because it’s ‘cold’.

LEVEL 2 – WARM

WORKING WITH HUBS

This level is a 1:1 ratio.

1 unit of effort for 1 unit of reward. You put in a lot of time and money and get a fair return.

At this level, you start to realize the power of using ‘hubs’. We realize that our ideal clients are already spending their time, money and attention in other places. There are certain events and locations we’re most likely to find them at. There are certain magazines, blogs and websites they check out. There are certain people that are already well connected to and respected by our target markets. So we start attending targeted events and connecting with the right people. We strategically build relationships with key hubs.

This is a huge leap for most businesses.

At this level, when you approach people they are ‘warm’ to you because they’ve already heard about you from someone they trust.

LEVEL 3 – HOT

BECOMING A HUB

This level is a 1:10 ratio.

1 unit of effort for 10 units of reward. You put in a little bit of time and money and get a huge return. Ahhh.

At this level, we not only ‘work’ with hubs – but we become one.

Now, an important distinction. Simply by working the ‘warm’ level long enough – you will become a hub. But there’s a difference between being a passive hub (which the warm level will ultimately make you) and an active hub. Being an active hub requires a bit more effort and ingenuity. It requires a constant curiousity of ‘how can I help my community more? What do they need?’

And not just for your clients.

You become a hub for the scene and for the ‘hubs’ in the scene. You end up adding value to people’s lives long before they become your client. You’re a generosity based business.

At this level, people are seeking YOU out. People are adding YOU on facebook. You’re no longer trying to receive awards – you’re giving them. Your reputation precedes you. You’ve shifted from being the spotlight – trying to chase people around – to be being the lighthouse – drawing everyone in to safety. Instead of being a guest in the community – desperately trying to fit in and be accepted – you are now a host of the community. Instead of being at the periphery trying to get in – you sit calmly at the center.

You become a hub.

| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing philosophy - Tags: becoming a hub, hubs, marketing, niche