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| Livliga Partnering with Others |
I am a firm believer that saying "Yes" is far more powerful than saying "No." One of my favorite speeches I ever composed was all about the benefits of saying "Yes." This is particularly true, I have found, when nurturing and growing a start up business. One of the biggest challenges is becoming known and reaching a broader audience.
One of the best ways I have found to grow awareness about Livliga is to partner with others. There are so many ways to partner. The way Livliga got started partnering was with giveaways with other companies that had complementary missions. dLife and Lauren's Hope were two such giveaways we did early on. They have programs for their constituents where they have giveaways. They asked us to provide product for the giveaway. This is a great way to get exposure for your product to a much broader audience. Sometimes you can also get additional benefits like a listing on their website or a guest blog.
Guest blogs can be powerful. I made a big commitment early on with the Epoch Times. This was a weekly blog I committed to for more than two years. Admittedly that is a big commitment. It did allow me to hone my writing skills and provided me with a broad exposure. Some blogs even ended up in print. I used the Epoch Times content for my blog as well so I didn't end up doubling my time in writing or in creating content. Many other times I have provided guest blogs for other blogs like the one I linked to above for Children's TLC. The Livliga Live Vibrant Blog has regular guest blogs as well. I have found it is a great way to build partnerships and introduce a new audience to Livliga. The most popular guest blog recently is 5 Baking Hacks to Make Desserts Healthy by Chef Vanessa Musi.
Acting on requests sent by email can be hard but they may be worth your time. A good example are those who write asking that you link their content into one of your blogs. You have to read it and make sure it is relevant but it can be a great way to improve your blog content and get others to your site. Two recent examples was a blog I wrote about the benefits of nuts after a work out and another blog that I updated on The Health Benefits of Salmon with a link to Jen Reviews.
Partnering can even be as simple as starting conversations with others on twitter or sharing content on Facebook provided by companies that complement yours and share your values. More often than not they will start following you and retweeting or sharing your content.
Help promote other people's content and events. We often get requests from others to help promote content or an event that they are producing. At first glance this might seem counter-intuitive. It is not. Again, if their business shares your values and complements what you provide, then it can benefit you too. Someone that follows you may benefit from this shared information. And when you want to get the word out about something you are doing, you have existing friends and partners who will be willing to help you. Your Wellness Connection is a great example of a mutually supportive relationship.
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| Walt and Sheila teaching a class at Duck Soup |
As a young start up adding more to do's to your list might seem daunting. There is always more than enough work to do! Partnering with others, I would argue, is the most cost-effective and enduring way to build awareness of your business. It takes time to nurture relationships and add relevance but that is what building a business is all about. In reality fostering relationships is core to our success. Those relationships come in many forms. And don't forget, so much of this is online and can be done at any hour. You can fit in correspondence, blogging and sharing at odd hours when the rest of your business can't be done.
We have met some wonderful people through partnering who have now become friends. It has been a great strategy for our business and for us personally.
Originally posted on Sheila's Blog in TheEpochTimes.com.
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