3 Most Effective Collabs for Your Business

Collaborating is more fun, it makes your business more fun. It allows you to get out and do something that where there's an energy of other people around it. And they just love it so much for that.

This is the Entrepreneur School Podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under 3am, a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey, and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business, while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Hello, hello, my friend, I am excited to chat with you today. I'm always excited to chat with you. I probably start every single episode saying that exact same thing. But it is true. I love showing up for this podcast for this community and to share some insights around things that are going on inside of my business or trends that I see four case studies that I want to share or amazing guest experts who are bringing their stories and their strategies and inspiration for you as you work through building your business. So they only talk to you about collaborate collaborations. And this is something that I find interesting that it's really kind of popping up as a trend right now, in terms of visibility and growth strategies. But I simply would call it PR, because that's what it is. Public Relations for a small business is all about building relationships with people who can help you get in front of the right people, reach more audiences, grow your business, connect you with people, both potential customers, potential collaborations and all of that. And I will do another episode kind of more broadly on that topic. But I wanted to talk specifically about collabs today, because it's something that I have been definitely leaning into a lot more in my business. And it has really been effective when you are intentional about who you're collaborating with and ensuring that you're including collaborations as part of your visibility strategy.

So let's start at the beginning with what is collaborations, what am I talking about. And that is creating Win Win opportunities with other people who share and serve a similar audience. So it's not always going to be a direct like two way street where you know, you do something with someone and then they do the same back for you. It might just be that the somebody's hosting it, and then you're participating in it, or that you're hosting it and other people aren't participating in it. Lots of different ways to make this happen. And in this episode, I'm going to quickly walk you through the three most effective types of collaborations that I have personally been experiencing lately, why I love them and who they're for, so that you can get a sense of what you might want to focus on. And maybe you know about all these ideas, or maybe they're new to you. So stay plugged in for that. So first of all, I want to share, like why you should collaborate. And the number one thing in case you haven't heard me on the soapbox yet, is about developing strong business relationships. So the more that you can connect with other people and build relationships, that can support you in your own network, for your business, the better off you will be. First of all, entrepreneurship can be very lonely. So this is one way to help navigate that. But having relationships is so so important because people are going to think about you recommend you refer you and talk about you to other people. And that really helps you to get your message across to get connected with more people who need to have you in their world. And of course, a benefit of this is that it helps to speed up your audience growth. So there are other people already out there who are building audiences of people that are similar in makeup to who you're looking to talk to you. And that is really like the key to determining any good business relationship. Is it about how you can support add value to the people who they're already like serving. And so how you can show up and say, here's how I can help you help your audience make you look good, help them learn something, help them get somewhere faster. And again, that is a good benefit to the person who you're speaking to. So that sort of your leverage point.

And it also, when you are focusing on collaborations, it helps you to build your reputation as a thought leader or an expert in your field. So this is that whole brand growth, how do we become the go to brand in our space, we make connections, and we find opportunities to get in front of people, the groups of people, whether that's like speaking or whether that's through different types of collaborations that I'm going to share here. And then of course, collaborating is more fun, it makes your business more fun, it allows you to get out and do something that where there's an energy of other people around it. And I just love it so much for that because again, sometimes you can just be you know, stuck sitting in your basement, recording podcast episodes, or working on email, copy or updating your website or trying to create more social media content. And here you are. So engaging with other people becomes, helps it be really, really fun to run your business. And you get feedback. Because there's this other piece that I find where, you know, your brain gets to a place where you don't realize, like that what you know, and what you're sharing is actually not common sense to everybody. And that's the truth. We just, once we've, we become an expert in something we're like, oh, yeah, that's easy. That simple. Nobody, everybody must know this. And the truth is they don't. And the more you can collaborate with other people, the more you're going to have that reflected back to you and really be reminded that what you are doing is valuable, that what you're sharing is insightful, and that people need it. And so that is a lovely kind of additional side effect, where you get sort of that validation, and that feedback that helps you to remember that you are in fact, as valuable as you are.

So I'm going to break down now, three types of collaborations that I think are the most effective. And this is based on my most recent experience in focusing on collabs as part of my growth strategy and my visibility plan. And I will caveat this, that it's really these three collaborations generally don't have to be focused like this, but these three are specific to expertise based business owners. So I'm talking to you if you sell your brain, if you sell your skills, your knowledge, what you know, whether that's in the format of being a service provider, a consultant, a course creator, or a speaker, or a coach, those are kind of the the labels you might have where you fit into this kind of expertise based business. You don't have to be an online business. In fact, I love working with offline businesses. brick and mortars are people who do even services that are more like in in person, because that the application of your business isn't so much matter here. It's more about like, knowing that what you're selling is your own experience, your own expertise, what you're really good at and the way that you do it. This is about like building up your thought expert, your thought leadership, so that people really see you as the go to in the space. You really can assert your authority, your ideas into the conversation. So let's talk about the three ways to do that.

Number one guesting on podcasts. So this means connecting with pitching yourself to podcast reaching out to podcast hosts, more shows where you believe that their audience can receive value from what you have to share. So as a podcast host, I get pitched a lot, a lot of them are really irrelevant, and it drives me nuts. So it's really important that you find a good angle that shows that you want actually listen to that show. And you know what their audience is, so you know how you can support them. So we'll talk specifically more tactically on how to get on podcast and maybe another episode, but I just wanted to share this as an idea and also share why I love it, because there's more than one reason. One is the relationship that you can build with the host. So this is a person who hosts a podcast. They probably also have a course a membership a probe. RAM, something connections to other podcast hosts, guests, people that you can connect with. It just becomes like a new web for you to reach out and expand even further into your relationship building. And then the second reason I love podcast guesting is that you can leverage the episode for credibility. So when you share that you're on a podcast, it kind of gives you that cried like, ooh, like, Oh, she was in that she was on that show she I saw her talk to this other person or I heard her this way it right away, like podcasts do give additional credibility because well, because they're you got selected to speak on it. Not everybody does. I tell you, I turned down, ignore. In fact, I don't even respond to like, at least probably five to 10 pitches per week. And this is not like a huge show. Like there are huge shows. This show is currently ranked in the top 5% globally, which is really awesome, considering it's only a year old. But some of the bigger ones that get like hundreds of 1000s of downloads a week, they are in like the top 0.1% rankings. And those ones that I'm sure they get pitched like, hundreds of times a day, right. So either way, I what I'm saying is that not everybody just gets to be honored. It's not just like a given it is it is special, that you are featured on a podcast episode. So leveraging that sharing it, sharing it on your social media, even sharing it on your website, sharing it out to your email list talking about that is something you did it gives you that extra credibility, which is what you are leaning into to help build up your brand as the go to in your space.

So number two type of collaboration is private group guest training for paid communities. So this is like a next level thing. So a lot of coaches have either group programs where they bring in guest experts or they have maybe like a monthly membership where they do offer guest trainings to their members. And they're picking specific topics that are relevant to the people who are in that group. And why I love it is it one for you is an opportunity to showcase your deeper expertise. But it's to an already engaged audience. So these people are already paying to be part of this. So they're showing up differently with a little bit more commitment than people who aren't necessarily maybe even, you know, listening to free podcast episodes. So it kind of it might be a smaller group, but you are probably going to create a better connection with somebody in that group who sees you. So I love doing guest trainings inside of paid communities for that reason. And again, the other reason I love it is relationship with the house. So it gives you an opportunity to add value to their community to continue having a relationship there, because they're probably going to be doing more things that they might want you to be involved in. And it opens up the door to that relationship. And of course, all of these things I'm sharing they are make art can go both ways, right? We're just talking about you getting featured in these kinds of collaborations. But of course, posting and offering these types of collaborations to other people is also effective.

Okay, the last one I want to talk about is participating in bundles. I am obsessed with this strategy. Currently, I don't know how long it's going to be like super popular, because they're definitely popping up more and more often. And if you're on my email list, you know that I'm that I've been in quite a few of them. I've focused on trying to be in about one bundle per month for approximately the last. They're not even four or five months. And it's been super effective. So the reason, the biggest reason I love it is it's an email list builder. So the way a bundle works is somebody's hosting this. And there's different types, there's free bundles, there's low, like I've been in a one that was I think $7 To purchase, and then other one that was like $47 to purchase. So those were sort of higher ticket clients and higher ticket like items that were in them. But essentially as a contributor you share something, a digital product of sorts that people can access immediately and use related to the theme of a bundle and there'll be a number of contributors. There'll be like, let's say 22 Even I think I'm in one Coming up has got like 200 contributors, which is a lot. So there's a lot of products, it gives people kind of a taste of who you are. And it allows them to come into your world and explore them more with you. So the email list building is definitely effective, I've had probably 200 to about 500 people come in from each individual bundle, which is amazing for email list growth. And that just gives you an opportunity to now have a connection with new people. And I've spoken about this in lots of episodes before, but email nurturing and email marketing, like having conversations with people in your world, that's the world you want them to be in is your email list world, your social media world is a lot more distracting, it's a lot less committed, it's a lot more likely that, you know, if you don't show up for a couple of days, the algorithms just gonna stop favoring you. And then you're not being seen, versus you have control when you're doing the email marketing. And, you know, it's 10 times more effective as far as even the open rates go. So that is why I love bundles. And again, there's usually a theme to them. So this is it's a matter of you, you might have to be a little bit more like organized as far as having a digital product or something to actually contribute to a bundle. But once you create something, you can use it in sort of multiple bundles. And then you look at building some new things so that you're bringing people into your world from a different angle and sort of testing that out. But again, this is another opportunity to build relationship with the house. Because if they do bundle, they probably do multiple bundles, because once you kind of create some system like this, it is easier to replicate. And the other reason that I love it is actually reaching out and connecting with the other contributors. So building relationships with other people who are participating in things like this is where you can find your you know, next BFF, your next Online Social Shout Out other opportunities to collaborate with people, maybe some of those people inside who are contributing are potential clients for you like who knows where that could go. So don't overlook connecting with the other contributors if you do participate in something like that.

So recap quickly. The types of clubs that I just went over guesting on podcasts, private group guest training inside of paid communities, and participating in bundles. So this is like speaking opportunities, trading opportunities, and email list growth. And all of them are still focused on relationship building, which is why I still classify this all as PR. So it's important to work in a variety of these strategies into your visibility plan, think about which ones would be a good fit for you to try. And then always, this is an experiment right? Get started. Try these out and see which ones are most effective for you, and where you want to keep doubling down.

Then if you want to continue to see sort of examples of these and learn about some opportunities, make sure that you are on our email list. So if you had to ksco.ca you will find different ways to get on to our email list. And then you will see which ones I'm participating in. And that might help you kind of come up with some ideas for yourself. So I hope that you love this episode all about collaborating. I can't wait to see what kind of opportunities you are going to explore. As always, I'm here for you to reach out to I'd love to hear what you learn about these from these episodes by connecting on Instagram, at ksco_ Kelly or @entrepreneurschoolpodcast @entrepreneurschoolpodcast on Instagram. So I will see you next week.

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