Episode 114: How To Have Your Community Begging To Partner With Your Pet Business

Imagine if you could have the town talking about your business? Or if you could have other pet businesses contacting you to work with you and partner with your pet business? Maybe the local pet store having a flyer in every bag that leaves their store with a purchase and your company's name on the tip of the tongue of the local vets, trainers, and groomers? Wouldn't it be nice if your business was the business always popping out the best and most valuable and relevant news. Today we are going to show you exactly how to become the talk of the town and start partnering with people to help elevate your level of “expert” in your community and become known. What Businesses Should I Partner With? The first thing you'll want to do is look on a prospective business's social media pages. You want them to have a social media following that you can leverage. It is a partnership, which means you BOTH have to pull your weight. I would almost go as far to say that if they don't take social media seriously, you shouldn't try to partner with them. BELLA TIP: The book "Known" by Mark Schaefer will help explain all of this in greater depth. How Do We Approach A Business I Want To Partner With? It can be scary approaching a potential business that you want to partner with, especially if you are a smaller company or not that well known (yet!). The first thing you can do is to like, comment, and share their content on social media. You can also message their business page and ask questions. Try to find out WHO is controlling their social media (this is often their designated media person). Use what Erika and I did as an example! :) How Can I Offer Value In A Partnership? One idea is that you can offer to interview them on either your business page or their's. It will help them get more exposure while you are providing a valuable resource for your audience! You can also pitch them to be a guest blogger on your website, or you to be a guest blogger on their website. Again - gets you exposure and you are providing value to your community. Lastly, don't be afraid to simply just ask them what their needs are. Maybe they want more advertising, clients, or employees. Whatever it may be, find out and brainstorm some ways you can help! Don't be afraid to pitch ideas of how they can partner with your pet business. Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 114 of Bella in Your Business. The next series of episodes are from a previously recorded live event training series that Erica Goodwin and I did together. The following is a past recording, but the information is just as juicy. I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Good morning, everybody! Welcome to the Jump into Marketing show. I am your host, Bella, and I'm here with my girl, Phat. Today we're going to talk to you about figuring out how to actually connect with people in your community on social media. Why is this a big deal? Because when you actually can connect with these other pet stores, groomers, veterinarians, bloggers, newspapers, local pubs, and bar and grills—when you can connect with them—you are now able to provide an enormous amount of value to your entire following, not just your clients. Through that, it makes you look popular. It makes it look like people really want to hang out and be your friend. So why not join your company? That’s what we’re diving into today. First, I want you guys to say what’s up below. Hi, Chloe! Thank you for joining us. We're already live here on Instagram. Thanks for joining us on Instagram, everyone. On Instagram, we're on the Barketing Blog Instagram Live, so if you’re out walking a dog and that’s easier for you, go ahead and put that on—or join our Facebook Live here, too. So, Erica, I’m going to hand this over to you. Why don’t you introduce yourself? Erica: Hi, so for everybody who’s new, my name is Erica. I’m the co-founder of ProPet Software—kennel management software—and also the owner of Barketing Solutions, pet business website management. Basically, we build your website, host your website, and take care of your website moving forward so you can focus on your pet business. Bella: Awesome. And I love your websites. They’re beautiful, responsive, and mobile. Every time I tell someone about your website and they actually get it, I get thank-you notes. So thank you for making me look good. We’re going to be talking a lot about that today, Erica, because we are prime examples of how you're able to partner together with someone to make your business more fruitful. But allow me to introduce myself for those who don’t know. My name is Bella Vasta with Jump Consulting. I’ve been a pet business consultant for the past ten or eleven years, since 2007. I have a mastermind group, I provide marketing for pet sitters in six-month periods, and I really love to pour into you. I also have a podcast called Bella in Your Business. This show has been sponsored by my company and Erica’s company because, without realizing it, there are about twenty-five steps to post- and pre-production that go on. In fact, Erica, I don’t know if our audience understands, but there’s actually more work to do after the show than there is before the show. And to help offset those costs—because there are costs to it—we have our sponsors. Erica: The show is sponsored by Barketing Solutions, as I mentioned earlier—website design and monthly management for pet businesses. Bella: Which is fantastic. And the Jump Mastermind, where we have about fifty business owners killing it with goals, being held accountable, and learning from experts who stand on stages for tens of thousands of dollars. If you need a little hip-hip-hooray and people that get you, join the Mastermind and use coupon code BELLA25 for $25 off. Erica: Bella’s giving me more work! These clients grow so much, they need their websites updated so often. Bella: True! That’s actually a good story because we do have two people in there right now. We’re helping them figure out what their messaging on their website should say to stand out. It’s like you’ve got this whole extended posse of people who have your back and tell you the truth, not just “it looks pretty.” So today, I want to tell you—if you’re not already—go follow my good friend Mark Schaefer. The man is amazing. I’ve hung out with him in person, consulted with him, read his books, and seen him speak. He’s such a great influencer—almost doesn’t even describe it. He has this book called Known, and he talks about the difference between celebrity, like Kim Kardashian, and being known for what you do—and how you as a small business can do it. I highly recommend checking out Known by Mark Schaefer. So, as a pet business, who do you partner with? Isn’t that always the million-dollar question? You might say, “I tried partnering with a vet, Bella, and it didn’t work.” That’s okay—some won’t. It’s like dating. Some stick, some don’t. So qualify them. When I first found Erica, I saw that she was killing it on Instagram. Every time she posted, she had great engagement. What she was posting was relevant and amazing. I also noticed that while she was in the pet industry, she was in a different lane—websites, software, and she was in Canada. She was interesting to me, so I started following her, learning about her, and then said, “Hey, let’s get on a call and see if we jive.” When you look for someone to partner with, look at their social media. If you want to partner with them publicly, and publicly these days means online, they need to have a following. I would not partner with Erica if she weren’t on social media or had two followers—because I’d be bringing all the party, and she wouldn’t bring any food. You don’t want to partner with someone unless you know more about them—their reputation, their character. The last thing you want is someone who might damage your company. But don’t let fear stop you from partnering. They can only damage your company if you allow it. When you’re just getting to know someone, say, “I recently discovered Erica and have been impressed watching her. I haven’t personally tried her out, but you might want to check her out and see if she’s a good fit.” That way you’re not risking your reputation yet. When you have partners, you can then have events. When I had my Mutt & Mingles (yappy hours), Bow-Wow Breakfasts, Pups on the Patio, or Dog Walking Club, it was easy to say, “Hey, pet store, I need twelve items for the doggy bags,” or “Hey, bar, I’m bringing people—can we get a round of free drinks?” When you have partners who respect you, it makes your desire to create events or bring the community together much easier. When you’re hunting for partners, look at their website, reviews, and social media. Start occasionally liking their posts—not stalker level, just a few times a week. Post thoughtful comments or questions, share their stuff with your take on it, and message them. Find out who does their social media—it might be the owner, manager, or an external company. Then get in front of them face to face. We’ve gotten so used to screens, but when you can feel someone’s energy and see the whites of their eyes—not through a screen—it’s powerful. Especially when you’re caring for their precious pets, being face-to-face builds trust. Erica: What if you’re really small and not well known? How do you gain credibility? Bella: You make it about them. Ask how you can help them. What are they looking for? Do they need more boarding?