Welcome to Season 1 Episode 1 of the Creative Business Success Podcast! In this episode, I talked with Angela, a personal stylist from St. Louis. She’s been struggling with finding her ideal clients in order to grow her business, though. In this episode, I worked with Angela to find opportunities to identify and connect with her ideal clients, create mutually beneficial business partnerships, and get the word out about her services.Here is a cheat sheet of some of the episode highlights:Angela’s intro, 0:50Her local marketing obstacles, 1:41Creating mutually beneficial partnerships, 2:28Expanding your network, 3:14Thinking outside the box, 4:37Going beyond your current audience, 5:28What to do with all your new options, 7:37Finding partnerships for workshops, 7:49Expanding your testimonials, 8:28Check out Dubsado to improve your workflow, 9:46PR reach, 10:25Emily Richett’s PR webinar, 11:46Why we all need an outside perspective on our business, 13:20Where to connect with Angela, 15:29Let’s dive a little deeper into a few of these local marketing obstacles and solutions, though!1 | Create mutually beneficial partnershipsAs an entrepreneur and especially a solopreneur, it is SO easy to get in the “it’s just me, myself, and I” mindset. That’s just not true! There are so many others out there who would love to collaborate with you if you’ll just ask. For Angela, I suggested finding some partnerships in her local area, but depending on your type of business, you could do this online too. In this case, Angela could reach out to travel agents to offer packing services to their clients and wedding coordinators to offer wedding party styling services, just to name a couple.Get creative with your partnership ideas, too! If you’re having trouble thinking of any, ask your friends and family what other kinds of services they think would complement yours and start there.2 | Go beyond your current audienceThis one may seem kind of obvious, but it’s surprising how often we overlook it. Angela was focusing on young moms as her primary personal styling audience. The problem is, young moms often don’t have much time or disposable income, which means they can be a hard sell. Instead, I suggested that she consider reaching out to business women and groups that cater to them instead. These women often have the money for a great wardrobe, but don’t want to waste the time picking out an outfit every morning. Angela’s personalized lookbooks would be perfect for this audience, as it would give them a quick way to choose an outfit without sorting through their closet fifty times!When you start to think about who needs you AND has the ability to hire you or purchase your products, you’ll find your sweet spot (or two!). Don’t get stuck in the rut of who you’ve already been reaching out to – go beyond it.3 | Expand your testimonialsIn Angela’s case, she had some great testimonials on her site, but they’re easy to pass over. Instead of relying on text-based testimonials, I suggested she consider getting video testimonials as well. This is perfect for her services because they are so personal and visual. Showing HOW she helped a client dress well for a particular body type is powerful. Video garners much more attention than text these days, so she can use it in other applications besides just her website. Those testimonials could become Facebook ads, be featured in webinars, and so much more.If your testimonials are not helping you convert leads into clients, it’s time to try a new tactic. Go outside of the standard text testimonials and see where they take you!4 | Connect with local media for PR!This is something that terrifies a lot of entrepreneurs. After all, what would I even talk about? What if they turn me down? I don’t even know how to get started! When I suggested PR to Angela, she was a little hesitant, but as we talked through some PR ideas, she got excited. I’m SO proud of her: she ran with the ideas we talked about and landed a Christmas family photo styling segment on Show Me St. Louis after our recording! Not only did she get to bring her expertise to life on television, but she was invited back for another segment as well.If you’re afraid of public relations outreach, take a deep breath and go for it anyways. Getting your name out there is such a big step and could change your business forever!And if you’d like to check out Angela’s segment on Show Me St. Louis and see how she rocked it out, check it out HERE.Want to connect with Angela?Find her at her website, www.angelamoorepersonalstyling.com and on Instagram! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Creative Business Success Podcast for more episodes and share your biggest takeaways in the comments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.