If you want to be a successful online location independent entrepreneur in today’s world, then it goes without saying that you are going to have to work for it – hopefully not too much, but lets just say that you’re going to need to be prepared to chase what you want and make it impossible to fail. Easy, right?!
Well, for some people, yes, but if you’ve never worked in a ‘client facing’ role before then it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to approaching people you’d like to work with and making deals with them. But you needn’t worry, because once you know the language and techniques to use when selling yourself and your blog, you’ll soon see huge results and establish yourself as someone worth doing business with.
Here are my tips for approaching perspective advertisers/partners for your online business.
Prepare
Before even thinking about reaching out to a potential business partner or advertiser, you need to do your research and find out as much as you can about them. Find out some interesting facts about their company or find out if any of your peers have worked with them before. You can assume that a lot of other people aren’t doing the same, so this is going to help you establish some rapport with the person and hopefully help you to stick in their mind for future reference.
Email First, Call Second
‘Cold-calling’ catches people off guard – and when there’s accents, bad phone lines and whatever else to contend with it can end up being a wasted opportunity if the person on the other end doesn’t know what the hell you’re talking about. In my opinion, sending a clear email first with your name, some site details (more info on this below) and what your ideas are is the best thing you can do. Then, if you don’t get a reply you can call in a few days and they will have more chance of remembering you and having time to listen to what you have to offer. Make yourself different, and they will want to speak to you, I promise!
Distinguish Yourself
What makes you better than any other online entrepreneur? Why should this company work with you? What does your site do differently than the others? These are all things you should be thinking about constantly and trying to better yourself at every turn. Whether you’re in a crowded niche or you’re a lone ranger, show what you’re made of and always play to your strengths.
Make It Easy To Work With You
Who do you think an advertiser would want to do business with – the blogger who takes days to respond to emails and is late getting requested stats back to you, or the blogger who proactively sends out a media pack and site stats before it’s even asked for? Think about what you would want if you were in their shoes, and make sure you give it to them before they have to ask.
Make It A Win/Win
This is probably one of the biggest ones, and it really hit home to me recently when I approached some hotels for a free stay in exchange for publicity during a recent trip. I started drafting an email to send out to the PR contacts from each hotel with the typical method of telling them all about me, my blog and bombarding them with a load of information before asking for a free room when I realised hey… hang on a minute, why the hell would any hotel want to give me a free room just because I write a blog?
It hit me big time that for me to get what I want, I need to give them what they want – if it’s a win/win then we both want to make a deal and everyone’s happy! What I then wrote was an email beginning with how I have helped other companies before and how I could help them. The proof was in the number of replies I received – out of 50 emails sent, 42 replied, and I had numerous companies wanting to work with me. Trust me – this works, so never ever send an email again without asking yourself if it’s a win for everyone involved. If it is – send it!
If you think about your ‘customer’ first, then you’ll never lose – remember that! Good luck!
Photo Credit – Thanks to pixelstar (sxu license)
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Absolutely thoughtful advices I found here, I wonder why it seems so easy when I read tips, but when it comes to practise it is not easy at all…
Thanks Sisi!
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Thanks – glad it was helpful! : )
Great advice but just wondering about the last point. How exactly did you make it seem worth their while other than saying you helped others before? Seems a bit vague if you ask me!
Other than that great stuff.
Hi Will – When I approach advertisers I start by telling them how I can help them and how I have publicised other companies or venues before. Once they realise that you’re not just asking for a freebie and you can be of real value they tend to want to come to the table and chat with you!