97 - Email List Growth and Influencer Marketing Strategy to Scale Your Brand (Listener Q+A Episode)

Email An Entrepreneur Learning about List Strategy and Influencer Marketing.jpg

Ready to get some answers on a fellow listener’s questions all about email list growth and influencer marketing?

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:

In today’s Episode, we are doing something different! We had a question come in from one of our listeners!

Amanda’s question was specifically about E-mail Swaps and Influencer marketing - which we briefly talked about in EP 95 where Danielle shared 10 Creative ways to Collaborate with other businesses to grow your reach and impact. If you haven’t listened to that Episode, go check it out!

By the way, if you want to get your question featured on this podcast, all you have to do is go to businessbabescollective.com/ask and leave a voice note!

Question asked by:

Amanda Kerr, Founder www.bubblesandbarbells.ca

Email List Swaps:

  • Trying each other's products before promotion builds trust and authenticity.

  • Determine the purpose of the collaboration: exposure, email list growth, or direct sales.

  • Consider joint giveaways or promotional offers to engage both audiences.

  • Clearly communicate goals, expectations, and the desired outcome of the collaboration.

Influencer Marketing:

  • Long-term partnerships are often more effective than one-time brand partnerships or gifting strategies.

  • Treat influencers as professional business owners and respect their service.

  • Building trust and relationships with influencers is essential.

  • Seek influencers whose values align with your brand and have your target audience.

  • Invest time in getting to know influencers through social media engagement and communication.

  • Establish clear expectations and detailed contracts to avoid misunderstandings.

Collaborating with other businesses can be fruitful when approached with trust, clarity, and a focus on mutual benefits. Trying each other's products, setting clear goals, and building relationships with influencers are key steps to successful partnerships. Attend the upcoming workshop for a more in-depth discussion on collaboration strategies. Join the next episode for further insights.

Our Top Business Resources to Support Female Entrepreneurs:

Connect on Instagram:

Connect with Danielle Wiebe @danilivinglife

Connect with Business Babes Collective @businessbabesco

Have a Question & Want to be Featured on The Podcast?

Ask us a Question

Apply to be a Guest

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Danielle Wiebe: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Business Babes Collective Podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe, and I'm super grateful for you. I'm grateful that you're tuning in today. I am just loving being able to hang out with you twice a week. This is just so much fun. I love that I get to do this, and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you who has supported this podcast so far.

[00:00:21] So if you are new here, Welcome. I'm super excited that you're here today. We're gonna do something very different than we are used to doing on this podcast. We are actually gonna be answering a question that came in from one of our listeners about our episode last week. So I will be playing that question and I'll be answering it.

[00:00:41] So Amanda's question was specifically about the email list swaps and influencer marketing we talked about last week. So we briefly talked about those two things in episode 95 where I shared 10 creative ways to collaborate with other business owners to grow your reach and impact. So if you haven't listened to that episode [00:01:00] yet, I highly recommend you go and you listen to that episode first.

[00:01:04] Um, by the way, if you have any questions that you want featured on this podcast and you wanna be featured on this podcast, then all you have to do is go to businessbabescollective.com/ask and leave a voice note for me. Leave me a question and share your name and share your business names that I can give you a shout out.

[00:01:23] So a huge thank you to Amanda of Bubbles and Barbells who asked our question today, and we will be sharing Amanda's business name and website in the show notes if you wanna check that out. So I have been hearing from a lot of people within our community, That they have been looking for alternative ways to grow and scale their businesses without having to rely so heavily on social media or needing to, you know, grow viral on the next social media platform that pops up.

[00:01:51] And as many of you may know, if you've been around for a while, We have been utilizing collaborations and partnerships, and [00:02:00] that has been one of the most consistent strategies we've implemented since beginning our business. And on September 28th at 12:00 PM I'm gonna be sharing my entire strategy around organic growth using the power of collaborations and partnerships. And getting your business massive exposure through these things.

[00:02:20] So come join us. It is completely free to sign up. You can go to businessbabescollective.com/workshop. It's gonna be live, so it's gonna be really fun and there's gonna be a training, and then also time for q and a. So if you have any questions for me, you can absolutely bring those questions and we will strategize with you on the call.

[00:02:39] It's gonna be Awesome. It's gonna be so much fun. So definitely go and get registered right away. So pause this episode. I'll wait. Okay, now that you're all registered, let's go ahead and jump into the episode today.

[00:02:53] Welcome to the Business Babes Collective Podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe. In this podcast, you'll learn [00:03:00] tangible business tips and strategies on how to grow successfully and sustainably. We'll also interview seasoned entrepreneurs so you can listen in on their stories and see behind the scenes of what it took to grow and scale their businesses. Let's dive in as we discuss the wild, exciting, crazy, challenging, rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship.

[00:03:22] Amanda Kerr: Hi Danielle. My name is Amanda Kerr. I'm the owner of active wear Company Bubbles and Barbells from Windsor, Ontario here in Canada.

[00:03:29] I recently finished listening to your newest podcast. How to, you know, collaborate with other business owners. This was such a great listen, I just had a couple questions. So the first one being would be the email one. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but I feel like it hasn't worked out.

[00:03:46] When reaching out to another business, would you suggest that you both try each other's products before you promote them in each other's email campaigns? I feel like a lot of people would be iffy about promoting something they've never tried before. How'd you go about [00:04:00] this? I would love to know more about this one.

[00:04:02] And the second one would be influencers and ambassador marketing. We don't believe in this type of marketing as our products do speak for themselves, and our customers have no problem sharing their feedback with us on social media. We do love connecting with content creators. However, being a smaller business, I feel like a lot of people don't take us seriously and they just wanna be involved with bigger brands and business owners. So how do you go about this? How would you create a successful contract?

[00:04:30] I feel like the people we have connected with do a mediocre job, and I would just love to know more about this because it's something that we always need. We always need new pictures and content and I can't always do it myself with being the only person.

[00:04:43] Danielle Wiebe: Hey, Amanda. Okay. Thank you so much for your question. I am going to obviously break it down into the two different questions that you asked and do my best to sum it up in this short episode. So let's go ahead and break these down.

[00:04:57] First to answer your question about the email list [00:05:00] swap. Yes. I think that trying one another's products and testing them out is an amazing idea. I think it really depends on your business and your level of trust. Uh, also whether you are a product or a service based business. For example, being a, in this case, Amanda, you being a product based business, it makes a lot of sense to send one another your products before you promote them to your community.

[00:05:24] So if there's another company doing a, a product based business as well. And having you guys send each other your products would be an amazing method. What I would say, my method for all of collaborations that I, that I do, it really involves a, a process of building trust with those you are planning to collaborate with first before you decide to work together.

[00:05:47] So that could mean hopping on a zoom call, it could mean an exchange of emails. Part of this process also is, You know, seeing what they're posting online and seeing what kind of content they're creating to see if your business [00:06:00] also resonates with their content as well. Another important thing when it comes to this type of collaboration is being really clear on what the purpose and the goal of the collaboration is.

[00:06:11] For example, if you are wanting to just gain exposure, gain grand recognition, maybe you are looking to grow your email list as a result of this, then I would recommend doing something like a joint giveaway. Maybe you are going to put together a package with both of your products. You can do this with services as well, and have people enter, so when they enter, they would need to join both of your email lists in order to do, to do so.

[00:06:37] You would both share it with your email lists. You can also share it elsewhere, whatever other platforms you are on. But if the collaboration is specifically for sales, then having some sort of a promotional offer that you can share with their audience and that they can share theirs with your audience, that's what I would recommend.

[00:06:56] Or maybe creating a package deal where if people [00:07:00] buy both of your products together, they get a, whether it's like a bonus product or maybe it's a discounted rate, whatever that is. And so really figure out, there's so many different ways you can, you can do this and obviously if we were on a call together, we would strategize on what would be best for you.

[00:07:15] But I would would recommend thinking about, okay, what is the purpose of this collaboration? Is it just for exposure, email list growth, gaining more potential clients in the future? Or is it for direct sales right now within the business? So that's what I would recommend for that.

[00:07:31] And then moving on to the influencer marketing and affiliate marketing piece. So this is like a whole topic. I mean, this could probably be several episodes long. I will try to sum it up. I'll try to sum up my thoughts on this as quickly as I can. So I personally believe that longer term partnerships and collaborations work so much better than just one time brand partnerships or just like a gifting strategy where [00:08:00] brands gift several influencers at one time and they kind of hope for the best.

[00:08:04] So let's narrow down and just talk about influencer marketing and brand partnerships for a second. Let's leave affiliate marketing because really there is so much that goes along with affiliate marketing. So as someone who has been on both sides of the conversation, we have had brands come to us wanting to partner with us in order to promote their products and services.

[00:08:25] And then we've also been on the flip side that we've worked with people creating content for us to promote the things that we have going on. So we've kind of been on both sides of the conversation. And what I will say is that if someone is a content creator or an influencer, they're also a business owner and their business is that they provide a service.

[00:08:44] The service that they offer is providing promotion, exposure, and often unique content to create for the brand. So normally if a content creator or an influencer is professional and they're treating it like a business, they [00:09:00] will have a media kit to share with you, they will have options of how you can potentially partner with them.

[00:09:06] If they do accept gifted products, they will probably say that upfront and every person and business conducts themselves very differently. And so I know that people, some people have had a bad experience with influencer marketing on both sides actually, and there tends to be somewhat of attention I find between the content creators and the brands. But I always believe that there can be a win-win.

[00:09:31] There can always be a mutually beneficial partnership that can serve both parties and sometimes some negotiating is necessary. So I know it's tempting to do so, but I would be careful not to write off an entire industry or an entire marketing strategy just because you have had a bad experience. And I totally understand because I have been there as well, But I personally know a lot of brands, as well as a lot of content creators who [00:10:00] have done a absolutely fabulous job of partnering together in a way that's mutually beneficial to create a successful collaboration.

[00:10:09] Now, my bi biggest advice that I have for brands specifically, who are wanting to, you know, get the word out there for their products, their services, the first step should be building trust first. So build trust with that person. And really start building that relationship. Follow them on social media, engage with their content, send them a couple of messages. I, if you'd like, you know, hop on a Zoom call if you're really wanting to make this more of a long term connection, a long term collaboration.

[00:10:39] That way it feels less like a transaction and it feels more like you are bringing them on as a part of your team, right? And so, The best fit for influencers and for content creators, I believe for brands, are people who already would use your products regardless if they were being partner, [00:11:00] partnered with you or not, or getting paid or not, or getting gifted product.

[00:11:03] And also they should have your ideal clients and customers within their network. So really make sure you get to know the content creator, the influencer, before you start that collaboration, that partnership conversation, and really make sure it is actually going to be a good fit on both sides.

[00:11:24] And I think it's really important too, they need to know that you care about them and they will care about your brand as well. And as far as contracts go and setting up expectations, again, this is something that we are gonna be actually diving a lot deeper into in the workshop on the 28th, but making sure that the expectations are super clear and everything is detailed so that both parties feel really, really good about the partnership and they know what is expected.

[00:11:52] Amanda, I hope that answers your questions. Again, I wanted to keep this episode really short and sweet. So if you [00:12:00] have any additional questions, then come join us for our free workshop on the 28th. And that goes for all of you listening, make sure you get registered. Again, you can go to businessbabescollective.com/workshop and I can't wait to see you there.

[00:12:13] So thanks again for listening, and I'm so excited. To see you on the 28th and until then, we'll see you Thursday for our next episode.

[00:12:24] If you love this episode, make sure you screenshot, post and tag us on Instagram @businessbabesco. Want to know when the next episode goes live? Subscribe on your podcast app and while you're there, leave us a review. Until next time, keep dreaming big, setting goals and taking action.

Danielle Wiebe