Cold emails are a one-two punch
I want to tell you about this idea of using cold sales emails while sending cold emails to land strategic partnerships (where you borrow someone else's audience).
Before we dig in, a cold email is:
An email that you send to a stranger asking them to take a specific action.
This strategy of cold emailing is a quick win combined with a long game approach.
Because you’re sending two types of cold emails:
Cold sales email designed to get new 1-1 clients quickly
Cold emails to create a strategic partnership that allow you to borrow someone else’s audience (that’s likely stocked with your ideal clients)
Nobody talks about how the second type — partnership pitches — are cold emails.
But they are.
And they’re very smart cold emails to send.
Because they set up strategic partnerships that bring in referrals and clients on autopilot.
When you send cold emails to get new 1-1 clients while you’re sending cold emails to unlock access to someone else’s audience, you’re using the Cambium Client Model.
Using this Model allows you to get clients now and for the lifetime of your digital marketing agency.
This is the strategy I show you inside The Cambium, my small group coaching program for digital marketing agency owners.
And it’s highly sustainable and profitable.
Which increases your likelihood of getting wins.
Because you’re taking the actions repeatedly that get results.
Here's what I mean:
The cold sales emails that you send get you clients now (and create a pipeline of future clients, because not everyone is ready to solve this problem that you’re offering a solution to now).
Some are, some aren't.
Using strategic partnerships is a longer timeline.
Because you're dealing with your potential partner’s schedule, content calendar, and possibly product launches.
Sometimes you might book a partnership to happen next week.
More often, I book partnerships out for next month or longer.
But these strategic partnerships get you "buyer intent" leads.
Or leads that are warmed up to you after listening and/or watching you for 30-60 minutes inside a workshop or podcast episode. Or hearing a trusted person in their world (aka your strategic partner) vouch for you.
These leads enter your world energized and more ready to buy.
Hence, the "buyer intent" qualification.
Whereas with the cold sales emails, you're diagnosing your lead’s most probable problem from the outside and making a case for why this problem is losing your lead money.
That losing money part creates a reason why action is needed now.
Cold emailing to land strategic partnerships also cover the content marketing piece for you.
Once you do a partnership, you have collateral -- think: video recording, podcast episode, lead magnet, summit conference -- to share on social media.
It's easier to think of what to post, because you take a slice of what you shared inside the partnership, write a post around it, and share.
Not to mention, the partnerships grow your visibility and give you instant authority markers.
For example, when my cold email recipients search my name, they see all the partnerships that I’ve done with Copyhackers, Agents of Change podcast, TCC podcast, Copy Chief, Sarah Noel Block, and many others.
Those partnerships cement my expert status.
And give me instant trustworthiness and authority.
My cold email recipient sees those partnerships and thinks, “She must know her stuff!”
And they return to my cold email and type, “I’m interested. Tell me more.”
>>>Want my template for these cold emails? It’s 100% feel-good
There’s another more secret reason why it’s important to send these cold emails to unlock partnerships.
That’s what I’m about to get into.
How this lesser-known cold email grows your email list
All the list-building courses and systems out there all preach the same message:
"Pick a platform and publish to it regularly"
... want to know why?
Because the educator behind that course doesn't want to tell you their true list-building system:
They're the industry's best-kept secret.
Especially for entrepreneurs making 6-figures and above.
Let’s start with a definition, shall we?
Strategic partnership:
Where two business owners (who aren't competitors) join forces because they have audiences that are similar.
In other words, fish where the fish are.
Quick example…
Here’s the behind-the-scenes at a promo that I ran in 2023 that brought in $75k in 12 days:
-> 64 - 81% of these new clients came into my world because of a strategic partnership
-> They came in thanks to: an online summit I did in October, podcasts I've done, partnership I did this summer, a webinar I did in 2020, a lead magnet roundup from 2022, and a conference I spoke at in 2018
-> The amount of time they'd been on my email list ranged from 1 week to 5 years
Over the last 9 years, I've been creating partnerships…
… by sending cold emails.
Some of these partnerships look like:
-> writing a guest blog post for CrazyEgg
-> appearing as a guest on a podcast, like for Kevin Rogers’ Copy Chief Radio or Gemma Bonham-Carter's The Course Creator Show
-> creating a day-long workshop for Copyhackers.
Partnerships are my secret in consistently growing (without burnout or long hours).
I work an average of 12 hours/week and am well-known for cold emails.
In fact, strategic partnerships that I’ve gotten via cold emails are the backbone of my marketing strategy to keep my working hours low and revenue high.
Because borrowing someone else's audience works so damn well.
Strategic partnerships aren’t just for big, glitzy entrepreneurs.
They’re also perfect for you.