In the fall of 2018, I got fed up with the up and down cycle in my business. Some months surpassed my goals and the others were dismal. I had been inconsistent with my marketing because it didn’t feel like it worked.

I was at the whim of who would find me either through Google search or referrals.

Some tactics, like mass LinkedIn outreach, worked quite well but it was time-consuming and felt a bit spammy.

I wanted to get out of the try stop, try stop cycle to find an approach to marketing that I could keep up for the long-term.

So I sat back and observed what was working for others.  And I noticed that a number of business owners were referring each other, giving shout outs to each other and joining forces.

When I thought about how I felt, I felt isolated and left out. And that’s when I realized I wasn’t asking others to join me in anything. I had been waiting for them to ask me. And truthfully I didn’t have anything for them to join.

I needed to find a way to opt-in.

I also noticed that I wasn’t attracting the kinds of clients who were more established in their business and who were ideal for my offers.

I didn’t have enough high level, high referring clients.

That’s when I decided to start a personalized outreach campaign to potential influencer clients.

I contacted three types of people:

• Potential clients
• Podcast producers
• Peers for networking purposes

After a few weeks of reaching out, I realized that I didn’t want to focus on being a guest on podcasts for the time being and while I was getting some traction with prospective clients, what I was enjoying the most were networking calls with peer influencers.

And I use the term influencer because I believe it’s someone who’s doing well in their business, has amazing offers, a tribe who loves them and shows up consistently with their strong message.

I got so much out these phone calls. I learned about their goals, established a connection and received a lot of brand validation for my own value and message.

Specifically, my confidence grew.  And it helped me believe more in my value and brand, which lead directly to my feeling ready to start my own podcast.

I had a lot of support early on with some of my new business friends agreeing to be on the podcast and sharing it with their tribe.

Here’s how I feel now about my business as the result of my outreach:

• Now I feel like I’ve opted in and feel like I’m not only at the party but I’m hosting my own party.
• This has made such a difference to my a confidence in my brand and my commitment to putting it out into the world consistently for the long term.
• I feel that it’s just as important for me to put out my message in the world as it is for anyone else.
• Shifted my vision and my belief in what’s possible.
• I’ve developed a practice of being in relationship as a way of doing business.

Is it time for you to opt-in, and receive your own brand validation through influencer outreach?