Create a Relationship Marketing Plan

Hi, there. I’m M. Shannon Hernandez, founder of the Confident Expert Program where we help coaches and consultants around the globe build their online business from a place of joy. First, we believe in joyful marketing. We believe in using our strengths to accelerate our business and alleviate the stress it takes to run a successful business. And we also believe in being really smart and strategic and having a lot of fun. So on today’s tutorial, I am going to share with you a relationship marketing plan. And this is for when you have built strategic relationships with people, which is a video I have previously recorded. You are now ready to stay top of mind, and you are ready to think about growing these relationships and serving in these relationships and saying at the top of mind of these strategic partnerships, now you may have formed a strategic relationship or strategic partnership with someone who is going to refer you clients, and you make also a good referral for them.

You may form a strategic relationship for someone who you really admire that you want to stay top of mind. You kind of adopted them as your mentor. You’re kind of watching what’s going on in their business and you just want a way to thank them, right? And you may also have a strategic relationship with somebody who is similar to what you do, but not exactly. And so you make beautiful referral partners. All right, you may work in the same industry. You may work in different segments of that industry. One of the people that I’m thinking about is James who actually asked the question and he’s an author who helps six figure business owners publish and will help them write amazing books. And often what he would need afterwards is someone trusted, a resource in the publishing industry, right?

So that’s a really smart strategic relationship for him. But on the front end, he also should think about people who have clients who are wanting to write books that he could be forming partnerships with. Right? So maybe that’s high-end business coaches, maybe it’s speaking coaches who want to have a trusted resource that they can go in and they can come to James and they know that their clients are going to be taken care of. So once we’ve identified these strategic relationships, it’s time to really think about the relationship marketing plan. So I’m going to share my screen with you. Today I want to draw this for you and I’ve got kind of this great piece of paper here and some fun markers. So we want to think about the relationship marketing plan. Okay. And this is really strategy and it’s one of the reasons that my clients have really great results is because we think about things, right?

We think about the strategic side of things. We get a plan in place and everyone knows what they’re doing and when they’re doing it and that takes a lot of the guesswork and the anxiety out of being an online coach and consultant where everything can feel crazy sometimes. So let’s assume that you have developed some strategic partnerships with people. And notice, as I said in a previous video, it’s mutually beneficial to everyone and their communities. And now it’s time to really think about how are you going to keep the relationship going, how are you going to stay top of mind? How are you going to serve and give and give freely and serve? And you believe in the law of karma and the more you give, the more you receive. Okay. Cause that’s really how we operate.

In my program, we show up and we serve people and we help. And, you know, there’s a famous quote. I’m kind of known for the amount of money in your bank account is a direct result of how many relationships and how deep your relationships are. Because deeper relationships pay off over time. It’s not the fastest path, but it is a reliable path. So here we are, we’ve identified our strategic partners and now we’re like, “okay, how are we going to stay in touch with them?” What are we going to do to really put some intention and thought behind that. How are we going to stay in touch with them? 

So there’s four ways that we can stay in touch with people. The first way is email. So what’s the benefits of email? The benefits of email, we could also send an instant message on Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram on here. Okay. The benefit is you can send it any time. All right. It’s not dependent on time zones and it’s free. All right. And then what are the drawbacks of it? Or the disadvantages of email? People’s inboxes are crowded. It might get deleted. Some of the emails aren’t even opened. Some end up in spam. So that’s one way, right? 

Another way is you can visit people in person. Now you can make a better connection. Sometimes in-person is more personal. Right. They hear your voice and they see you. But the disadvantages are, we can’t always be in person. It takes more time. It takes travel sometimes. It costs money, lunches, coffees, whatever that is. 

Another way is you can call them. Now, this is my least preferred way. I’m going to be honest. If you don’t have an appointment on my calendar, including family and friends, I don’t take your phone calls. It’s just how I operate. I also don’t love talking on the phone. But for some people it’s a really great way to maintain relationships. People would love to hear your voice, calls are free. If they answer, that’s big, you can have a conversation. The disadvantages are it’ll most likely go to voicemail. Let’s be real. People don’t call back. And some people don’t even listen to their messages. 

So these are the ways, now the uncommon thing, which is what I do. Which is why I think I have great relationships. And it’s why I think that my brand and my love and my care and my concern for people, stands out. It’s mail. So what are the advantages of mail? Snail mail. And talking about the snail kind. People have to physically interact with the piece of mail. It’s got a very high open rate. I mean, come on. If you get mail, let’s be real. It’s fun to get mail these days, snail mail. Physical items stay around longer than email or anything else, and it stands out. You guys are going to see, I’m a huge fan of this category right here. Snail mail to develop your relationships and partnerships. What are the disadvantages? It does take some time. There is cost involved. Okay. For mailing paper stamps and envelopes, whatever you’re mailing. There is some time for the assembly of things. You got to go to the post office, right. You could get one of those things and set it on your desk and do the postage. It takes a little longer to get to the recipient. It’s not as fast as email or instant message. 

Okay. So here we are. These are the ways that you can keep in contact with your people. Now let’s get a new piece of paper here for a minute. Because here’s what I’m going to propose. If you want to be a coach or a consultant who stands out online, you will do things that are offline. All right. And so I really want you to stick with me for a moment. And I want you to think about what this plan would look like. What kind of results could you get and how much joy could you have if you had, let’s just say, five strategic partners identified, all right. And each month you mailed them something in the snail mail.

Okay. Now I have done this. And I can tell you, it has paid off over and over. It may cost me a dollar at most, maybe $2 to mail something to five people. That’s 10 marketing dollars a month at $2 per person. Right. But the return is huge. Are you willing to spend $10, $15, $20 a month to stay top of mind, to build a relationship to stand out and in the end to know that you’re giving service and that you’re giving value and to get referrals in return and build this relationship. Hey, to me, that’s a no brainer. I would gladly spend $25 per month, right? $5 per person got five people. $25 knowing that I could get a client in return and many, many times over. So I want you to think about mail and I want you to lay out the next six months of mail to your strategic partners. 

I’m going to take you through one of these. Okay. So let’s say Tara is one of my strategic partners. So Tara is a business coach, but she starts with brand new coaches. This is a strategic partnership for me because once they get their foundation set, Tara needs to send them somewhere for marketing and selling and how to build that business around their lifestyle goals, which is what I’m known for. It’s more of what I call a spiritual mentor. I love the work she does because she is talking more about the spiritual side of things and she loves strategy and she uses strategy to help her clients get where they need to go. And she doesn’t know much about content personality. She doesn’t know much about how to help people zone into what they’re already good at. So her people are my people when they’re ready to amplify their marketing, using their content personality. So the way to really think through this is what could you mail out each of these months with a little note and stay top of mind to these five people. Okay. That’s where the magic is. We don’t expect anything in return. We just let the surprises show up and do the work. And I can tell you, you’re going to see some tangible results from this. You’re going to see deepening relationships. You’re going to see the spirit of reciprocity come into play. You’re going to see things like people reaching out to you, either in mail or Facebook or asking you to be on their podcast or interviewing you. 

Then all you have to do is you have to connect and, get ready for it, detach from whatever you think the outcome might be. Okay. Sometimes this is the hardest part for me, but when I detach it gets much better. Okay. So let me finish today by saying, I want to show you some things that I send out. I got little stickers made that says, Got Content. Cause I’m all about amazing content that helps you build your business, build your brand, build your thought leadership. All right. Who doesn’t love a sticker, peel this off and put it on something. Drop it in with a little note. Beautiful. Okay. I also got a magnet made that says Your Voice Matters. All right. People love these. They put them on their computers, on their file cabinets because your voice does matter. And as you’re building your online coaching and consulting practice, your voice matters a lot. People need to hear you. They need to know what you’re thinking. They need to know how you’re different.

Another thing I love mailing out to people because I love elephants and everyone knows this is I have the beautiful stationary that has elephants on it. It’s a postcard. Right? I put it in an envelope. I write a quick note. Hey, I’ve been thinking about you. How are things going in your business? How can I support you? That’s my most famous question of all. Okay. And I had these made last year, which are a lot of fun. It’s welcome to the world of joyful marketing and it’s chock full of information. So nine symptoms of an ineffective marketing strategy. People can go ahead and just go through the checklist. I’ll show it to you. All right. Go through the checklist here and check off. What is it that, um, might be ineffective that you need to pay attention to. Okay. Six tips for more joyful marketing.

You can flip to that section right here. Six tips for more joyful marketing. All right. And then, meet Shannon Hernandez. All right. So it gives them a little more information about me. So much fun. A highlight of my clients, a highlight of the different events that I host the highlight of client’s successes. It’s such a beautiful flyer to receive in the mail. Okay. So I am encouraging you to go out, build strategic relationships, get yourself a relationship marketing plan together. And if you need help with this, please click the button below. We are on standby, myself and my team. We are helping people in the Confident Expert Program think joyfully about their business, their marketing, their connections, and how they’re showing up in the world. And how they can make a bigger impact and make more money. So sending you all, lots of love, hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I’ll talk to you soon. Adios.