Leveraging Other People's Audiences to Expand Your Reach

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Growing your own reach can feel like a neverending journey in your business -- listen as expert Tara Trottier provides tangible resources for how you can leverage the network of the people around you to expand your own.

Tara is a marketer and serial entrepreneur. After building a six figure consulting business at 25 she shifted her focus to become a summit host, membership host and done for you service provider.

Website // Instagram // Guide to Grow Your Email List

The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Badass Business Squad podcast. I am very excited because today with me is Tara Trottier. I met Tara through Sabrina, one of our previous guest experts. So if you listen to Sabrina's episode, then you'll know just all of the magical goodness we're going to get into today. But I'm very excited because Tara and I are going to be talking all about how to leverage other people's audiences to further your own business growth and further your own reach. So thank you so much, Tara for coming on here today.

Tara Trottier: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.

Katrina Widener: Okay, so I'm really excited about today's topic because this is something that is totally up my alley as like a people person and an extrovert and community focused person. So I'm really excited to dive into all the nitty gritty details. But before we do that, would you mind please sharing with everyone a little bit about who you are and what your business is?

Tara Trottier: Yeah. So I'm Tara Trottier. I am a multi-passionate entrepreneur. I am a summit host, I am a membership host. I am a done for you service provider. I have dabbled with coaching and consulting, a little bit of everything. So I do a little bit of it all. We host some group programs in some of the businesses that we have. I primarily serve clinical therapists in my membership and with my summit. And then on the other side of things, I just serve cool online business owners who I am inspired by, and who are passionate about the work that they're doing.

Katrina Widener: Well, thank you so much for introducing yourself, and thank you again for coming on today. I think everything that you're talking about, when you're like, "I am a summit host," right? It makes complete sense why you're like, "Hi, I'm here to talk about leveraging other people's audiences!" Because this is what you've done and this is what you've helped a lot of people do as well.

So I'm really excited to get into this. Before we dive too much, just so that everyone kind of understands exactly what we're referencing, would you just explain to people what you mean by leveraging other people's audiences?

Tara Trottier: Absolutely. So leveraging other people's audiences to me is just, getting in front of their audience and so collaborating in some capacity with them. This could be as small as a guest blog post, an Instagram stories take over, a joint reel. I don't know that any of those things are really small, but smaller in size in terms of just one. And then all the way up to, like in my mind the big kahuna is like a virtual summit. Or even potentially an in-person collaboration, but something where you are collaborating with a large amount of people, and there are a large amount of people consuming that thing as well.

Katrina Widener: Yeah, that makes complete sense. I mean, even you being here on the podcast, right? We are leveraging each other's audiences. I would -

Tara Trottier: Absolutely.

Katrina Widener: Promote it. I'll get in front of everyone who's following you and vice versa. So it makes complete sense. I'm sure a lot of people are like, "All right, so you're getting in front of each other's audiences. That is great. That's why we want to do this." But what would you say are the other benefits to really being able to collaborate in this way and being able to have a mutually beneficial relationship with other entrepreneurs?

Tara Trottier: Yeah, so I think that there are many. And I think some of the underrepresented ones are really the best. So you gain access when you're collaborating with other people to new resources, to their resources. And so I think what this can do is just sort of up level your product, service and expertise in the way that you're presenting it.

We also see an increase in efficiency. So when I'm producing something with other people, I'm able to produce something that is a shared resource that is pooled knowledge, that is ultimately... it can also reduce costs, right? So we also get this diversification in what we're doing, and I think that's important to a lot of business owners probably listening to this podcast.

So it gives us the opportunity to reduce our risk as well by spreading resources across multiple ventures with multiple people. Serving multiple audiences, right? So that's enhancing our reputation. It allows us to collaborate with reputable businesses, which supports our own growth as well. And then I think the last piece is really just like that increased market reach, right?

So you're reaching more people, especially like within the same niche audience. So when we do our summit, we're collaborating with people who serve other healthcare providers. We're collaborating with people who are also serving clinical therapists. And so it allows us to sort of become this omnipresent force. Especially during our marketing period where it's all that we are seeing in this space and we're consuming a lot of content as people who are chronically online. And it also allows us to sort of increase our visibility and become known to people in this way, which I think is really valuable in the long term.

Katrina Widener: Yeah! One of the things I love that you mentioned before we hopped on even, and exactly what you're saying now, is it really is like... it's allowing you to build your reputation outside of just what you're doing and who you are and how you show up. Because you are aligning yourself with other entrepreneurs and you're able to learn things from them and adapt what you've been doing. And again, having this mutually beneficial relationship where they're able to provide stuff to your audience that maybe you weren't able to provide, Right?

Tara Trottier: Yeah.

Katrina Widener: I do the Badass Business Squad Mastermind, and we have guest experts come in where I'm like, "I could sit down and help you build out your like wire frame for your website. Or I could hire someone who literally does the wire frames for the show at websites and have them help you make a sales page for yourself," And that obviously is benefiting my guest experts because they're able to come in and speak about the thing that they love and get new followers and advocates and all that kind of stuff. But also, it's allowing me to boost my reputation as a business coach because I am saying like, "Here's my container where you're learning this even if I'm not necessarily the one who is teaching it to you," and it's all just like, yeah, boosting your reputation. Bringing as much as possible to your audience and other people's audiences when you collaborate. So I'm obviously a big fan.

I think the next thing is, and I'm sure of what's on a lot of people's minds is, "This is great, but where do I get started?" Or even how we've mentioned things like blog posts or collaborative reels or something like this where it's a podcast. How do you share your resources with people, how do you reach out and invite people to come into your world? But also how do you, I don't want to say pitch yourself necessarily... But how do you get to start having the type of relationships where you feel comfortable saying, "Hey, do you want to do this thing together?" or, "I would love to be able to bring this to your audience. Is there a way that I can be helpful?" so yeah, where do we... where do we get started?

Tara Trottier: Yeah, I think that's a great question. Also shout out to "Showit" for being the best website platform. Love that. So when we're doing the summit, we for sure are pitching speakers. It's something that happens. But I like to make personal connection points first, and I think that as somebody who has found a business partner on the internet that they have never met before, who lives across the country. We're both Canadians, so that's something that we share in common.

But I think one of the most important things that you can do is just find people on the internet who you jive with, who are putting out content that you enjoy. Who are putting out content that resonates with you and like you just see their stuff and you're like, "This is it. Like, I love this person. I want to hype them up just to hype them up. I want to be their friend." If you can find people like that in the space that you're in? Somebody with like a similar audience and adjacent audience is a great place to start. Because you'll both have value to offer that audience.

I would offer a word of caution that like, not everybody's going to be down to clown with that. They might feel a little bit off-put if you share a really similar audience. So you might have to expand out. But eventually, I think when you create a genuine relationship and friendship with somebody? And I, to take it to Human Design, my brightest gift is intimacy. So I very much become like BFFs with people that I work with and collaborate with, and it's very much part of the energy that I'm bringing to the table. So I recognize that might not be right for everybody. But I really encourage you to find people that you really like and you really like the work that they are doing. Because it's going to make it a lot easier for you to figure out what you can do together to build that relationship, to not have it be weird, to not have to feel pitchy when you're setting things up with them.

And what I would recommend that you do also, is just keep it really small to start. So you don't have to host a virtual summit. My business partner Megan and I, when we began working together, she was my client first, and then we just became fast friends. Fast forward, she was like, "Do you want to do a therapist summit?" And I was like, "Okay, yeah." And, you know, then a few months later it was in existence. 10 out of 10 would not recommend that you bite off that much, depending on who you are as a person. But what you can do instead is just start small.

So it might look like just getting on a Zoom with them to do some networking, which I know some people don't love, but I highly encourage you to put yourself out there and make those connections. Especially if your business is like primarily online, that's going to be something that's supportive to you over the long term. Whether it feels like pulling teeth in the moment or not. And then I would also suggest, yeah, that you keep it small in terms of what's required of you to do this collaboration.

So is it something that already exists? Is it something that you have to organize? Do you have to show up live for it? Kind of take all these things into consideration. You know, what works best for you as a human being and as a business owner. So if networking calls are not your vibe, don't get on them despite what I've said here, right? Or, you know, if you like doing live videos, do a joint live with somebody. But if you detest that and it just like doesn't feel comfortable for you, choose something else. You can choose collaborations that are essentially so low lift that you don't have to manage another person or people, which I think is really beautiful.

So I love Instagram story takeovers for that reason. Basically you discuss with someone what you're going to do and then you send them clips and they put them up on their story. So it's really simple in that it doesn't require you to actually collaborate in terms of sharing ideas and producing like a joint product. because I think that's sometimes where it can get challenging and issues can arise and differences of opinion, right? So if you keep it really easy to start, if that's what feels comfortable for you, then you're putting yourself in a position to like not hate this new thing that you're trying. And then you're more likely to do it again in the future, probably right?

Katrina Widener: Oh 100%. I really appreciate that you're also like, "Just do it the way that feels best to you!" Because we're all about that here, right? And mentioning Human Design, obviously like that's something that I'm very passionate about too. And to give everyone listening, just like a little example...

We'll use me as like one end of the spectrum, right? We already talked about this. Extrovert, super community focused, I love doing collaborations. Hopping on a joint live or doing a podcast or joining a panel or anything like that feels really easy to me. That feels super natural. I honestly am like, "That's so much easier than like writing a guest blog post or something like that." Love it here for it. I have a like mastermind member from one of the earlier rounds who is not an extrovert. They're introverted, they're less likely to want to go up and do public speaking. They're less likely to want to show up even like an Instagram live or Instagram story speaking to the camera, which is totally okay, right? Like everybody is different. Everybody has places that they feel the most at home, and again, this is the beauty of Human Design is you get to listen to yourself instead of just doing the shoulds of, "I listen to this podcast episode that says I need to start doing joint Instagram lives all the time, and I hate it. Now I'm going to do it even though it's miserable and it's not getting me the results that I want, et cetera, et cetera."

But this mastermind member instead chose to partner with their accountability partner from the mastermind, and now they're doing joint services.

Tara Trottier: Love that.

Katrina Widener: Where one is providing photography for entrepreneurs and the other is providing SEO for entrepreneurs, and you get to buy a package deal where you get both at once. So, you come in, you get an SEO audit and information on how to update your website, and then you also get photos to update your website and information on how to do that in a way that is going to also boost your SEO. And so collaboration doesn't have to be, "Well now I'm going to go to somebody else's mastermind and do a guest expert spot." But it's more about thinking about, "What works for me, what would feel right to me? How can I take this idea of leveraging someone else's reach," essentially. Whether that's Instagram reach or just their like physical circle of friends and acquaintances and connections or something, right, as huge as a summit where I'm going to leverage multiple people's audiences all at the same time. And everyone who's joining is leveraging each other's audiences all at the same time.

So I'm really, really glad that you mentioned like, "Here are a couple ways that you can do this, and whoever you are wherever you're at, you can make this work for you." Because I think we hear so often like, "This is a thing that you need to do in your business!" And it doesn't allow for that... really like accommodating it to who you are and how you operate and all of that magical goodness. So just wanted to like toot your horn for a second there.

Tara Trottier: Thank you. Yeah, and I think ultimately too, if you don't feel comfortable being in charge of a collaboration? So if you don't want to say, be a summit host. Or you don't want to run a lead magnet bundle or you're not comfortable being a podcast host, for example right? There are other avenues, and maybe that pitch style will work better for you, right? Maybe sending out pitches and being a guest in other people's spaces and places is your vibe.

I would offer the advice though, as well, like this is a caveat to that. When I started placing myself as the host of a collaboration and I started bringing people in, in a really big way like for the summit, my business exploded in a way that I really wasn't prepared for, and I didn't anticipate. It was funny when we did the first summit in 2021 we were like, "Hopefully we have a thousand people and hopefully we make some money."

And we surpassed that goal, and we didn't have a monetary goal but like we did well. And so what I would advise people to do is to try to find something that really sort of allows them to direct creatively the collaboration. Because it's going to give you sort of this extra boost, I think, that doesn't always happen from collaborations where you're putting yourself in the position of guest. Not to say that they're bad. I'm here right now doing this podcast, and so you know like it's all available to you. And I think that there is some value in really showing up in your space as an authority in that way.

Something that I found when we started doing summits was that there really wasn't anything like this in our space and in our industry, in our niche, if you will. And so it allowed us to bring people together in our space in a way that like hadn't been done before. And now we've seen other stuff pop up, of course we were the first to do it.

Katrina Widener: Haha!

Tara Trottier: No, I'm just kidding. But like now we see other things sort of like popping up and there was... in-person retreats were really popular in our space before we did the virtual summit, and so now we've seen this trend toward virtual events. And so I really encourage you to like be in that space and put yourself in a position to create and release something and be visible in that way. Because I think it's really valuable to your growth long term, and it sort of takes some pressure off of you.

Like I think that you and I, when we first started talking, I told you that I've been coasting on word of mouth referrals for quite some time. I don't really market in my business, which is funny because I'm a marketer. But this visibility and this like rapid growth of my email list and of my community has allowed me to sort of like kick back a little bit and take a breath. And I know that there's always sort of new people coming into my space and coming into my sales pipeline, if you will. And I don't have to be as forward facing in the same way that I did before, which is really nice. Especially if you're someone who's prioritizing rest, trying to work less, right? All of those things that I know that you talk a lot about, so.

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm, yes. Yes. It is just overall one of those things where we all have the things that we love in our business. We all have our own goals in our business, but making sure that we're being intentional and really proactive of how we go about building our business and building our business foundation? I'm really glad that you mentioned that too, as things for people to consider. Like if you do collaborate and you are getting in front of other people's audiences, how are you going to take advantage of that? How are you going to manage that after the fact?

And yes, like a podcast episode even on like a huge podcast platform you'll get new followers from? How are you going to capture those followers, right? And maybe it's not the same amount on a podcast as it would be by hosting a summit.

Tara Trottier: Sure.

Katrina Widener: But what are the next steps? How are we continuing the relationship? And that's with the people who are finding you, right? But it's also with the collaborators who you're partnering with in the first place.

So anyway, thank you so much for coming on and talking about all of this. I really appreciate it. I'm just going to ask if there is anything else, any last words of wisdom or thoughts that you'd like to leave the listeners with?

Tara Trottier: The last thought that I would love to leave them with is that if you are somebody who is dabbling with collaborations after this episode, I would highly encourage you to go back and listen to Sabrina's episode. Because I think that I am definitely a put the cart before the horse kind of person. And when we're talking about these systems and what happens after, having systems in place to do the things that you need done is really important and is really crucial. So I encourage you to yeah, find an expert and find support so that you can put those things in place and work smarter.

Katrina Widener: I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for coming on. How can everyone find you after listening to the episode?

Tara Trottier: Yeah, so you can download my bundle resource, which will support you to put out your first collaboration in the link in the notes. Or you can find me on Instagram at @taraondemand.ca. That's where I hang out. If you get on my email list, I email pretty regularly, but everything else is on my Instagram story. So if you want to come hang out with me over there, I would love to have you.

Katrina Widener: Perfect, well thank you again for coming on. I really appreciate it.

Tara Trottier: Thank you for having me.