- Content collaboration is the fastest and
- cheapest way to grow a high quality, relevant
- Whoo!
audience, and in this video we are gonna share
our top tips on how to do it.
- We've collaborated with some huge names in our
industry and we've grown our audience
and sales significantly because of it.
- So in this video, we're gonna show you
two ways to collaborate with influential people
even if you don't have a huge audience yourself
yet, how to get people to say yes to you
and what mistakes to avoid.
(slide whistle)
So we're defining collaboration here
as either us going onto somebody else's platform,
like doing a guest blog for someone
or being a podcast guest, or being
a Facebook live guest.
- Or it could be us getting people on our platform,
like when we run our online conference,
when we have our podcast, when we get people
on this channel, if we do webinars,
if we have people in our membership site
doing guest training, those kind of things.
- Or it could be you and somebody else
working together on something new.
- Now, a word of warning on that third one here,
it rarely works, and unless it makes
100 percent sense, everybody is super, super
clear on what's expected, and there is
a tonne of trust between you two,
then it might work.
However, we've seen this happen
time and time again where collaborations
on business or projects often fails.
And we wouldn't want that to happen for you either.
So if we're focusing here on those
first two options, Andrew, why are these such
awesome content strategies?
- Well, Pete, simply because they increase your
discoverability and visibility.
If you can get in front of someone else's
audience and do a good job, chances are
some of that audience will come
back to your platforms.
- And, if you can get someone on your platform,
then chances are that trust of that person
and the awareness of that person
will hopefully draw people in so that they
listen to them on your platform.
Plus, that person you're collaborating with might
also share it, and thus it brings more people in, too.
- So, on paper, this is a win win.
But, this is not a novel idea anymore,
and just saying 'Oi, you! Fancy doing a guest blog?'
probably is gonna get you a big, fat, no.
- So what are our top tips, cause we're
pretty damn good at getting people to say 'yes'
to us, like you all said 'yes' to watching
this video, didn't you?
- Please don't go away because Pete was cocky.
Let's start with getting influential
people on your platform, and we've got
two rules for you.
Rule number one is to make it easy.
Writing a guest blog isn't easy.
It's time consuming, it takes some thought,
and it will probably be always at the bottom
of someone's to-do list, unless you have
a highly influential site that people
actually want to write for.
- So think about how you can get guest content easier.
If they are more influential than you,
then the hard part of the content collaboration
should be on you.
Which means, if you do an interview with them,
can you interview them and write it up yourself?
Could you do a podcast so it's really easy for them?
Or could you repurpose something that they
already have, so that you literally
don't have to do anything?
Think about what makes the process easy for them
so that they can work with you as easy as possible.
- But, just because it's easy
doesn't mean it should be simple and boring
and tip number two is to make it remarkable.
The more influential whoever you are asking,
the more they probably get asked to do this a lot.
So think about what you're actually asking them to do
and is it something they've probably done 1,000
times already.
If so, can you bring something fresh to the table?
When we first got started doing this,
we literally had no audience, but we didn't
let that hold us back, we just
asked ourselves how can we make this more
remarkable so people actually do say 'yes' to us?
- And this is really important if you want them
to share it as well.
And trust us, you want them to share your
collaboration with their audience.
And if they've already done this same thing
1,000 times and told the same story 1,000 times
given the same tip 1,000 times
it's unlikely that they're gonna want to share it again
with their audience, so this is why
you really do need to have that
fresh perspective on things.
- And the final bonus tip slash rule is don't ask them.
Sometimes, we just don't ask the people
we want to collaborate with, we just
feature them in our content, and then
tell them after we've published this,
and we call this 'the sneak and tag collab'.
- (singing) The sneak and tag collab!
Sneaky, sneaky.
- Tiny, tiny.
(laughing)
- So for example, we once went
to a Seth Godin event, and we wrote
a blog all about it, all the things that
he said in it, and we published it,
didn't even ask him permission,
and then we told him that we'd done it after.
- And he even commented on it.
- And a small part of us went to heaven.
(soothing music)
So that's our awesome sauce about
getting people onto your platform,
but what about getting you onto their platform?
And in our opinion, this is oftentimes
much better, especially if they
have a big audience, and you're gonna be in front
of that big audience, the exposure on that
can be massive.
- But, it's much harder to do, so we got one, two, three
(buzzer dinging)
rules for you to make sure that
this actually works.
- Rule number one is to pitch an idea
that actually makes sense to them.
If you want to do a guest blog for someone
or be on their podcast, look at what
content they create and send over a few ideas
that A, make sense and fit with their channel,
and B, make it look like you've actually
done your homework and listened to some
of the podcasts or guest blogs.
- Rule number two is to build a relationship.
And yes, we have got some cold 'yes's in the past
but in all honesty it is much, much harder.
So if you can try to build some kind of
relationship first, even if your name just
sounds slightly familiar, that is way better
than who the hell is that?
- So many accents in this video.
- Little Andrew & Pete fact is that I can't do
any accent whatsoever, whatsoever.
- He's so bad at doin' it.
- So bad.
- You just sound Welsh-Indian.
- It's not Welsh-Indian.
Who the hell is that?
I was going for, like, sassy American woman.
- Hmmm.
(laughing)
Sassy, Indian-American woman, maybe.
- Now for some people, granted,
this is easier said than done, but you can
use social to get your name, to get your brand
in front of these influential people.
- Rule number three is to look good.
- Oh yeah! We're nailing number three today.
- If you're gonna ask and pitch to
be on someone else's channel, then we are 99
percent confident that they're gonna
check you out first, before saying yes.
Now, if you are not creating consistent content
yourself, if you are not walking the talk,
if your Twitter profile is still an egg
even though that isn't possible these days, if
that is still you, you are gonna get
a big, fat, juicy nah.
- Even if you are the most qualified person
on the planet to talk about that subject,
if your online presence doesn't say you are
then you are relying on your word alone.
And people have literally told us
it would have been a no, but I checked out
your site, or I loved that video,
or you guys clearly know what you're talking about
and that's how we got the yes.
Let us know in the comments what you are going
to do about using collaboration
and we shall jump in and answer any
questions that you may have.
We also wanna know, in the comments,
who your dream collaborations are.
Yes, let's put it out to the universe.
- Yes.
- And reign in that universe's power
to get those collaborations.
- And whilst you're down there,
please do make sure you hit that
big, red subscribe button and then
next time you take a flight, you're
gonna get a free upgrade into first class.
- It's true!
- Yes, baby.
- I have been Andrew.
- I've been Pete.
- See you next time!
- Whoo! I can't believe Beyonce said no to us.
- It's Jay-Z, I'm pretty sure he's jealous of us.
- Yeah, must be.
- What did Jay-Z call his wife before he was married?
- I know this one, go on.
- Fiancee.
(laughing)
That's a good one.
- Tune in next time for no more jokes.
- Or, if you want jokes to become a thing, comment.
(funky music)