Hiya,

If you don’t know me, you might be wondering why am I taking over Alex’s newsletter today. Well, firstly I wrote a book called Hype Yourself that changed the trajectory of how I work and today I run a newsletter membership called The Hype. 

Alex has been a featured guest twice AND took over one of my former monthly editions of my newsletter when I was on maternity leave. 

And right now, I’m big into collaboration, so I asked (because if you don’t ask, you don’t get) if I could do a takeover to support the session I delivered for MicDrop the other week on what Alex calls “The Watering Hole Strategy.”

What is a Watering hole?

A watering hole is any place where your ideal clients already congregate. It could be a community, an event, a membership, a conference and it is one of the most effective ways of turning a single talk into multiple opportunities for your business.

You can catch the replay of my talk here.

But if like me you are more of a reader here are my 7 top takeaways:

I saw myself as ‘just’ a PR agency owner when I started public speaking. I couldn’t find what my angle should be and ironically how to pitch (the thing I teach the most). I began by hosting panel events and inviting key members of the press I wanted to build relationships with. One of those attendees put my name forward in a room a few months later that led to my first paid speaking gig for Courier magazine (RIP). 

I wrote an article called Borrow Everything I Know about Growing a Newsletter. This became my most popular piece and was selected for a Creative Mornings Virtual Field Trip. Anyone can pitch for these for free, submission details are here. I had 888 attendees register, 100 joined the newsletter in 24 hours and 10 became paid immediately.

I’ve lost count of my failed pitches for Cannes Lions Festival. I don’t mind (much). I secured press credentials instead by pitching as a freelancer to Creative Boom. It’s now becoming an annual gig and I get to meet key speakers backstage to interview. Arguably a better relationship builder then if I was a speaker.

When I moved to rural France I kept thinking local events meant flying back to London. After a few years, I secured Adobe funding to create a local event in Nice, France. 28/30 attendees showed up (vs 50% drop out rate in UK). It was a steep promotional learning curve as Facebook groups work best for registration here. You need to deprogramme sometimes from what you think is the traditional speaking success gig. 

I’d had Chris Do on my vision board for months. I had originally decided I wanted to do an instagram collab when he was featuring creators. I cultivated my social media relationship with him. Then when I finally met him I handed him a book. That led to me teaching for The Futur. I do have a big fail on this one though. I wasn’t business ready (more about that below) when he invited me on his podcast so I said yes out of fear I would lose the opportunity. Now that episode directs traffic to an agency I’ve now closed rather than my newsletter business.

So underrated as a promotional tool. Talking about failing to become a Sunday Times Bestseller led to me being booked on Penny Wincer’s podcast Not Too Busy To Write. Alex funnily enoch discovered me on there which is what led to me writing to you today. That one podcast created over £10ks worth of work from selling out my one-to-one consulting to a speaker bureau booking me for corporate videos. (It’s also how Alex found me).

Get a signature freebie workshop. Take it to where your target audience plays. For me, that was Enterprise Nation, Small Business Britain, BT Digital Skills, IPSE and FSB. I start with my audience and then look at the organisations already creating content for them. I’ve grown my audience who have gone on to buy books, newsletter subscriptions, retreats or one-to-ones with me. 

Well, you need to remember search bars are your best friend. Whether that is a category search within Spotify podcast tab, to LinkedIn. I dare you to type in the word podcast in LinkedIn and see how many of your connections have one. 

And in a world where the algorithm is kicking our asses you need to collaborate more. Like me writing for Alex. One-off collabs don’t work as well. How can you nurture relationships with your collaborators? Ultimately, us independents will leave the world a better place, so championing each other makes all ships rise. 

If you are going to start hyping yourself you need clear business goals and offering to direct people to afterwards. A proper URL (not a Substack) that directs people to what you sell. An email capture system for non-buyers and I love a good headshot and bio page. 

Roast mine later. https://www.hypeyourself.com/hello/

Found this useful? Join Alex and I in The Hype!