Webinars are a great way to build your audience – they give you an opportunity to “show and tell”, which builds trust and credibility for your business. With webinars, you also have the opportunity to partner with another business offering complementary products and services, which can build your following even faster by getting exposure to their audience.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for a number of years, additional profits for your business await you when you partner with another professional. Follow these simple tips to make it happen:
Connect with Related – but Non-Competing Providers
You have a lot of options in choosing a partner for your presentation. Think about products and services that clients use before and after yours. Who do you already know that is offering something complementary to your business? Reach out to the business owner and present an opportunity with clear value for them. (KEY: Make your pitch all about them – they’ll be much more likely to say yes!)
For example if you are a web designer, your clients contract web hosts before you and copywriters after you. Each of these companies would be a great partner for you! You want to choose a business that has a similar audience but not a competing service.
Another way to think about it is: who serves your audience in another way? If you’re a bookkeeper serving female small business owners, think about whom else serves female owned small businesses. You could partner with a CPA specializing in women’s small business or a coach for small business owners.
Finding the Right Partners with Social Media
Use social media to find other providers in your niche. Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups and forums are great places to start. Tweetchat in your niche will introduce you to new people in your field. You can also use Quora. See who answers the same kinds of questions you answer, and then look at their profile. Before long, you’ll find someone who approaches the same problems from a different angle. That’s a great person to get to know.
Once you’ve identified service providers who are a good fit and have complementary expertise, connect with them. Use social media to introduce yourself and start a conversation. See who their friends are on Facebook. If you have mutual friends, ask for an introduction. Do the same with Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections. Sign up for the email newsletter or blog to learn about their work style and offers. Use your research to craft an opportunity for the two of you to collaborate and then reach out to pitch your idea.
Making a Connection
When you get the conversation going on social media, reach out in a more personal way with an email or chat by phone or Skype. Use the time to learn more about their audience and their needs. The more you learn the better you’ll be able to tailor your content to provide value to their audience.
Use what you learn on the call or email conversation to build content that will be beneficial to both of your lists. You’re not asking for a favor from this other person, you’re providing value to new prospective clients. Be sure you can clearly communicate the value you are offering their audience. Ideally, you’ll be solving a problem that both groups have.
The value doesn’t stop with the information you provide. You’ll also want to craft an offer that benefits both your list and your partner’s. A discounted product or service or complementary session is a great way to introduce yourself to a new audience. (Be sure to offer them a commission on any sales that are generated!)
When the webinar is over, reciprocate! Let your partner host a webinar for your audience in their own area of expertise. Your audience gets a chance to learn from them and take advantage of what they have to offer.
Webinars are a terrific way to build trust and expand your list. You don’t have to go it alone. Look in your niche for the right partner and get exposure to a new pool of potential clients.
Your Action Plan For This Week:
- Identify at least 3 possible partners for an upcoming webinar. Think about the kinds of services your audience uses in addition to yours.
- Get social! Start connecting with your potential partners through social media. Ask for introductions and get the conversation going.
- Schedule one conversation with a possible partner. Prep a few questions so you stay on track learning about their audience and their needs.
Mike Van Horn says
Very good idea, Sydmi!
I’m doing this right now, and I’m learning some important things that may be worth adding in here:
1. Three of us are doing a joint webinar aimed at small business owners. We’re trying to design one webinar that incorporates all three of us. Our topics are complementary, but our styles are so different. I’m beginning to think we should instead do a series of three webinars–one by each of us–and announce and promote them jointly.
2. The webinar platform you choose is really important. Some, like WebEx and GoToMeeting, are quite expensive. But other less expensive ones have big drawbacks, such as inability to record the video and audio together, or problematic downloads, or they don’t work well on Macs.
3. How are you signing people up? If you and your webinar partner(s) are sending announcements to your respective lists via ezine or Evite or whatever, how are the sign ups handled? All partners must create website landing pages with sign up links. Do all partners get contact data on all sign ups?
4. Are you charging for the webinar? Then a PayPal account must link to the web pages where people sign up.
5. Make sure that your webinar partner has a good list and will market as diligently as you do. Some want to piggyback on the efforts of others because they don’t want to do marketing themselves.
6. Finally (first actually), make sure that your prospective webinar partner will reflect well on you. Make sure you feel comfortable referring your best clients to an event led by this person. You don’t want them coming away thinking, “Yuck, I’ll never again do anything she recommends!”
Sydni Craig-Hart says
These are great points Mike! Thanks for such a thoughtful note.
Thanks for asking such great question and please let me know how you make out!
Warm regards,
Sydni