Ep. 099: Simple Ways to Grow Your Reach

Thinking about how to reach more perfect-fit potential clients can often feel like staring at a blank screen when you have a huge essay to write: daunting! Where does one even begin? Who are these people? Where are they? Should I be on a different social media platform? What podcasts should I pitch to? It feels like there are more questions than answers, and you'll never make any headway.

But the reality is you are so much more than just the thing you do in your business! You are your hobbies, interests, cultural background, life experiences, work history, and more. And when you look at your various intersections and leverage them, it's easy to see just how many different audiences would want to learn from you.

And what's really cool about having overlapping shared qualities with someone is it allows them to form a bond of trust and connection a lot more quickly. Because you both "speak the same language" of that shared experience. And in sales, trust is the final step someone needs to reach before they are ready to spend money with you.

Links:

Your Next Big Thing Workshop: https://erikatebbens.podia.com/ynbt_jan

• Want to read a transcript of this episode? Click here!

  Welcome back to the sell sister podcast. Today. I am chatting about how to grow your reach in really simple ways, by leveraging all the cool bits of who you are as a human. Generally thinking about how to reach more perfect fit potential. Clients can feel like staring at a blank screen. When you have a huge essay to write it's daunting.

  Where do you even begin? Who are these potential people? Where are they? Uh, should you be on a different social media platform? Which podcast should you pitch to or other places if you're pitching to speak in other formats? It generally feels like there are more questions and answers and you're never going to be able to actually make any headway.

  But the reality is, is that you are so much more than just the thing that you do in your business. You are your hobbies, your interests, your cultural background, life experiences, work history, and more. And when you look at all of those various intersections and leverage them, it becomes super easy just to see how many different audiences would want to learn from you.

  And what's really cool about having overlapping shared qualities with somebody else is that it allows them to form a bond of trust and connection a lot more quickly because you are both quote unquote speaking, the same language of that shared experience. And in sales trust is the final step. Someone needs to reach before they are ready to spend money with you.

  So if you'll recall, there is, you know, the know like, and trust of sales and marketing. And so you have to get people to know you. So that is, you know, where you're showing up in front of them. You have to make them aware of you. And then whatever is that you're saying that you're talking about, you are getting them to.

  Like you. And then lastly, once they trust you, if you are the right fit for each other, then they will spend money with you. They will become a client or a customer of whatever it is that you do. Maybe not immediately, but potentially over time. So generally speaking, I like to think of this in terms of places that you are pitching to in order to.

  Get in front of other people's audiences. Now you can actually use this in different ways. You can use this to help you with like social content, everything, but for the examples that I'm going to be going through today, um, I'm thinking of this in terms of pitching the podcasts pitching to. Uh, events or summits or things like that, conferences where you would be speaking, um, or like we're hoping to speak or present or teach.

  Uh, this could be to people's free communities. People's paid communities, um, or even to go live with them on. Facebook Instagram or somewhere else. So this is just, um, I'm going to be giving you several examples of just like, you know, one, uh, type of person, like one example of a person that has various intersections and then leveraging those, uh, for successful pitches in different places.

  And I'm going to give examples even more detailed examples of all of those. So in this example, here is here are the intersections of my example, person, a mom of a special, uh, a child with special needs. They're queer, they're a person of color. Uh, they have a background as, um, like just a yoga professional, but, uh, like part-time like on the side, they're a millennial.

  They are a professional therapist by trade. They homeschool their child or children. Uh, they like to knit for fun and they're also vegan. And then, you know, any other, any other types of categories of, of intersections, but those are the ones that I have now, obviously, you know, knitting, veganism, being a millennial.

  Uh, none of those necessarily have anything to do with what they do for their business. Um, but their business are, uh, in this, um, in this example is their, their current business is that they are a branding expert. And a web designer. So that is what they are hoping to, uh, grow their brand, aware their own brand awareness around so that they can get more clients who also need a branding expert and, or a web designer.

  So based on those intersections, uh, here are some potential pitches that they could use in order of those categories. Above first is how starting a work from home business has allowed them to be more available for. Their child, uh, their journey as a queer entrepreneur and why authentic marketing can feel vulnerable, but as essential, how women of color can brand themselves to bring in higher ticket clients, why yoga professionals need strong branding to command higher rates?

  How millennial entrepreneurs can more effectively brand themselves to showcase their values and expertise, why they stopped practicing therapy and became a brand strategist for other therapists, three ways. Homeschooling entrepreneurs can better brand their businesses for success. How to better optimize your website and branding as an indie Dyer.

  So for those of you who, who don't knit, I am a knitter. So indie dyers just mean, uh, like private individuals who die and sell their own small batch yarn. And what vegan food bloggers need to know about branding and website design. These are just jumping off points, but you can see just by these how this one person can now pitch to a whole host of different types of podcasts for platforms and not just ones that are strictly B2B.

  So I want to dive into this a little bit more usually when you are an entrepreneur and you're like, okay, I'm going to, you know, again, we're just using pitched podcast here, pitched podcast or platforms you are thinking, okay. I do brand strategy and web design. So I am a B2B business to business entrepreneur.

  And I am trying to get clients who also have businesses because that is who will hire me. So therefore I need to go to other podcasts that only speak to businesses or even B2B businesses. I need to only go. There and share my story. And as you can see from those examples, that is simply not true because in each of these, and I'll, I'll kind of go through them again a little bit more.

  You can see where, you know, like it could be possible that, uh, uh, podcast is not the right fit, just because you have overlapping intersections. For instance with, you know, if it's like yarn, if it's knitting, right? The podcast might not speak at all to anyone that has a fiber arts related business. It could purely be about like teaching about knitting patterns, uh, different types of yarn, different techniques, right.

  It might, they might just say like, No, we don't need you on our podcast because we specifically are not talking to people who have fiber related businesses and that's fine. So there is going to be like a little bit more homework. You obviously want to be looking for podcasts or platforms that are.

  Likely to want to hear what you have to say now that also doesn't mean that you couldn't just give it a whirl and try to pitch anyways, because if the pitch is sincere and you genuinely want to be on and you want to serve and educate their audience. Then the worst that's going to happen is they're going to say no, right.

  You're going to, you're going to give them a really good pitch. You're gonna, uh, pitch white. You think you would be a good fit? Why you think you'd be helpfjust assume that simply because something hasn't been done on somebody's platform that it's an automatic.

  No. Right. So I w I would just say, they're like, don't, don't, uh, don't cut yourself down before you even give yourself the opportunity, but let's go back through the skin. So how starting a work from home business has allowed them to be more available for their child. So perhaps this podcast really speaks to people who, um, want to work from home.

  Maybe who are freelancers, um, people who are doing like a side hustle or like a part-time gig, just to bring in extra flexible money, anything like that. Right. It might not necessarily be a podcast like this podcast, but it could be in that realm of helping people who are looking to have more, uh, flexible.

  Employment or, you know, job or money-making opportunities, the next one, uh, their journey as a queer entrepreneur and why authentic marketing can feel vulnerable, but as essential. So this would be great. Uh, this could either be on a business podcast that is open to this. Topic, uh, either the topic of like queer entrepreneurship or authentic tech marketing, and, you know, you could do it through the lens of being like an out queer entrepreneur.

  This could also be to a podcast that is specifically geared towards a queer audience. And because there's, you know, if it, if it makes sense for the podcast and for the listeners, it could be that. There are many people in that audience who are entrepreneurs already. Uh, and so, you know, there's, there's that right there.

  And there might even be a podcast that is specific for just queer entrepreneurs. That would be a really, really, really great pitch. The next example was how women of color can brand themselves to bring in higher ticket clients. Now, this one would likely be. A business podcast, and this could be something, you know, it could be a podcast that is, um, produced by a woman of color that is hosted by a woman of color.

  Uh, it could be just a general business podcast that is not hosted by a woman of color. It could be specific to, uh, like higher ticket. Businesses, luxury businesses, things like that. That would be a really great topic. My next example was why yoga professionals need strong branding to command higher rates.

  So this is why I mentioned that they were a part-time yoga professional at some point, maybe they don't even do it currently, but they have a lot of experience in that world. But now they also have a lot of experience in branding. So they might have a sub-niche of who they work with that is yoga professionals, because they know what those yoga pros should be doing in order to be paid, um, you know, higher than average for the industry.

  That would be really great. If somebody who's worked with a lot of yoga professionals, this is a huge need. So if you're listening and you're a branding expert and you have experience with yoga professionals, this could be a really great sub-niche to get into my next one was how millennial entrepreneurs can more effectively brand themselves to showcase their values and expertise.

  So, again, this is probably going to be a more, a business related, um, podcast, or even specifically, you know, for millennial entrepreneurs or, uh, even just millennial lifestyle in general, because again, a lot of millennials are trying to do something that is different than the norm of, you know, Going and getting a job and working there for 20 to 30 years and then retiring a lot of them are taking part in the gig economy or entrepreneurship.

  So you could have a really great pitch there as the branding expert because on the flip side and depending on, you know, maybe 10 years from now, if somebody who's listening to this, this will be a moot point. But in many ways, especially like younger millennials, You might be viewing yourself as like, I don't have enough experience.

  Uh, I, you know, I'm not old enough. People are going to think I'm too young to land BS, you know, more lucrative contracts or, um, client opportunities. So I don't really know how to effectively showcase my, you know, my values and my expertise in what I do, uh, in my brand so that I can have as much success as I would like.

  And work with the type of people I would like to work with the next one, why they stopped practicing therapy and became a brand strategist for other therapists. So in this regard, I would say this would be really great for, um, a podcast that speaks to other therapy professionals, because it's not just, it's not that you would be going on and saying like, I think everyone should quit practicing therapy and, uh, you know, do something else.

  Instead again, this is like another one of those sub-niche categories. Like. Hey, I used to be a therapist. I get it. Now I'm a brand strategist. And one of the groups of people that I love working with are other therapists, because I like helping them get a full client roster of. You know, incredible, amazing clients.

  And as a brand strategist and web designer, let me give you my five best tips for your therapy practice for branding your therapy practice so that you can. Get booked up with perfect fit clients, something along those lines. Uh, three ways homeschooling entrepreneurs can better brand their businesses for success.

  This would be great for, um, if there are podcasts specifically podcasts or platforms specifically out there. For people who are homeschooling and have homeschool related businesses or they were homeschooling. So maybe they make their own like curricula or manipulatives or play toys or anything. Like that, that we're, they're targeting, um, homeschool families.

  So again, just using your expertise as at branding expert, but in this very specific sub-niche how to better optimize your website as, um, and branding as an indie Dyer yet again, another sub-niche. So even though they're not a like professional in the world of knitting, If that has been their hobby for many years, and they have a lot of experience as a consumer in that industry.

  And because of their current professional background, they could speak to, uh, you know, on a platform to other indie dyers or, you know, fiber arts businesses. And give them, you know, their best tips for optimizing their website to bring in more sales. And lastly, what vegan food bloggers need to know about branding and website design again, another sub-niche they, you know, you could, if there's somebody out there who is speaking directly to, um, you know, on vegan food, vegan, food, blogs, uh, vegan recipe, blogs, anything like that.

  If there's a. Like a conference or, um, or anything that would happen, like a magazine that is geared specifically towards, um, You know, like people who write beacon recipes, any, any of those, right? You could pitch your self to them to say, Hey, you know, for anyone who is a current vegan food blogger or is thinking about doing it, I want to share my ex my expertise on branding and website design with you.

  And obviously know there's like lots of. You know, there's clearly more than just like one vegan magazine out there. Right. But, uh, there could be even like online digital publications now that, um, are, you know, more current in the industry and things like that. It's been, it's been a long time since I've read like vegan food blogs.

  I'm not, I'm not vegan anymore, but like I know that there's, you know, lots of, lots of different, um, evolving options and platforms and things all the time. And so there's like in that instance, there's probably plenty of places and people that you could pitch to in order to share. And, uh, and you know, you might not even necessarily know.

  I know with food blogs, I have a few friends who have been food bloggers. I know there's a lot of other like ins and outs of affiliate marketing and stuff on that doesn't necessarily mean that you would need to be the expert on. All of the things and be able to answer all of the questions, uh, of any sub-niche or sub category, but you can always pitch what you do know, and then just be really open and honest.

  And, you know, on that particular example, you could say, I am less familiar with, uh, the affiliate marketing side of things, but I would like to speak. Um, but you know, my, my expertise is in branding and website design. So I would like to speak to that from the point of view of, you know, user experience and driving the right kind of traffic to your site, the kind of traffic who will like to stay and scroll and bop around to different recipes, thus helping to, uh, you know, bring in more of.

  Those affiliate dollars there. So that was just one example of one person. There are, you probably have, I'm going to say at least five easy intersections right off the top of your head that you could use that you could leverage here, but I would challenge you to think of 10 and then. Again, you don't have to talk about every single thing to each of them and they don't need to be like huge, huge audiences or anything like that.

  In fact, you'll likely have better odds of getting a yes, if you are not trying to pitch to the, you know, absolute. Most visible most well-known person in that industry, because they might be getting tons of pitches. They might have already covered a topic that you want to speak on. That's another thing, make sure that you're looking through what they've done.

  You don't want to pitch a duplicate thing. Um, and then think of two to three things that you could pitch to them for a collaboration. So it doesn't necessarily have to just be. Like one single thing. I would, I would get more granular instead of just saying again, let me go back to the vegan flu food bloggers, because it's the last on the list listed.

  I'm looking at it like a pitch that is gonna. Be, you know, likely get a yes. Two is probably not like, Hey, I just want to talk to your audience about branding and website design. Right? You're going to want to craft a more specific, more granular pitch. Like the top five things that vegan food bloggers should know about branding and website design to attract, um, better.

  Uh, like web visitors or to get more like raving fans, or you can say like, I want to talk about the top three, easy to fix mistakes. I see them making with branding and website design. Like you're, you're going to want to give something that is specific and juicy enough and interesting enough that that person is going to be like, Ooh.

  Yeah, I could actually see how my audience would love that. That would be really valuable for me to give to my audience via this guest. So that is what I would encourage you to do. And hopefully when you view it through that lens of like, Oh, my gosh, there are so many subcategories of my person be they personal or professional that I could lean into in order to, uh, meet up, you know, or get in front of.

  Other people who have overlapping intersections with me, again, all of their intersections are not going to overlap perfectly with all of yours. It's like just like a regular kind of Venn diagram. It's not like a full overlapping circle. But when you have those overlaps, when you are sort of speaking that common language, it is going to, uh, they're going to feel more affinity and trust to you because even if you are not a professional in the yarn dire, The simple fact that you understand their industry is going to be really powerful to them.

  This is how it has worked. A lot of times for me with my clients, actually this whole episode was inspired by a conversation with a recent client where I was, um, helping her figure out. These various intersections and possible pitches for, um, for her business. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is, you know, this is not my first rodeo.

  I've done this with other clients. I've done it with my group coaching, um, members. And so I just knew it needed to be shared out. It needed to be. A podcast episode, because this is super, super, super powerful, and it really works. And it's really fun. And I love working with other entrepreneurs where we have overlapping common interests and intersections.

  It's just really fun and really rewarding for me. So be sure if you're not following me already follow me on Instagram at Erica turbans consulting, come by. Say hi, slide into my DMS. You can even screenshot this post to, in your stories and tag me. I love to see it and as always happy selling.