Recently, our client Tim added 1,000 email subscribers and $17,500 in coaching sales with something so simple I hesitate to even call it a “campaign.”
He asked a YouTuber to interview him.
Not in exchange for affiliate commissions, an “influencer fee,” or any kind of major cross promotion.
Just a straight up interview, no strings attached.
How did he make it happen?
That’s what you’re about to see.
I sat down with Tim to dig into not only how he did it, but how anyone else who sells coaching or consulting services (or courses) could do the same.
You don’t need connections.
You don’t need a massive audience.
You don’t even need a marketing budget.
So watch, learn, and then try it out yourself.
Check out Tim’s business, Freelance GPS.
Breaking Down Tim’s YouTube “Guest Interview” Strategy
First, let’s take a closer look at Tim’s business so we can understand why this strategy worked so well for him.
His Company: Tim runs Freelance GPS. He helps freelance web developers grow their business to consistently hit $10-30k per month. His best fit clients are developers who have already started their freelance business, seen some initial success, and want to scale it to the next level.
His Products: Tim’s primary offer right now is a 1:1 coaching service. Clients pay $2,500 (though he recently increased the price to $5,000) for 90 days of coaching.
This includes a personalized roadmap to grow their freelance business, unlimited 1:1 calls and emails with Tim, in-depth training on sales calls, code reviews, and more.
How Tim Gets Customers: Tim creates content and free courses designed to help his best fit clients.
After people sign up for his free courses, he offers them a free strategy session (1:1 call) where he’ll learn about their business and show how he could help them grow it.
For example, he includes the following CTA on the dashboard page for one of his free courses:
Since he has their email address, he can also add them to a followup sequence that offers the free strategy session.
The path to grow is simple:
The more quality leads he has signing up for his free course, the more strategy sessions he’ll book, the more leads he’ll convert into coaching clients.
The question is…how can he get himself (and his free course) in front of as many potential best fit clients as possible?
Tim’s solution: get someone who already has a large audience of his best fit clients to feature him.
How Tim Got Featured on a YouTube Channel with 360,000+ Subscribers
First, Tim asked a simple question: what podcasts, blogs, YouTube channels, etc. do my best fit clients love to consume?
He had a few ideas of his own, but he also decided to ask his own email subscribers.
One name kept coming back again and again: Forrest Knight.
Forrest runs a popular YouTube channel full of helpful “how to” videos and tutorials for web developers.
Tim didn’t have an existing connection to Forrest, but he immediately recognized 2 things:
A decent chunk of Forrest’s hundreds of thousands of subscribers were likely interested in doing freelance development work.
Forrest wasn’t currently creating much content about freelancing.
This, my friends, is what we call a “content gap” — and it’s a HUGE opportunity for anyone selling coaching, consulting, or courses.
Think about it…
Many people in Forrest’s audience are probably interested in freelancing
Freelancing isn’t necessarily Forrest’s primary area of expertise
Tim can come in as a guest freelancing expert and provide great content for Forrest’s audience free of charge
It’s a win-win. As Tim put it:
“The big win [for Forrest] is it’s a chance to get some more content teaching his audience something new and valuable. [Freelancing] was definitely something his audience was chomping at the bit for.”
So Tim reached out to Forrest with a simple pitch: I’d love to collaborate on a video about freelancing for your audience.
Nothing too over the top. Nothing fancy. Tim just did his homework on Forrest’s content and audience and sent him a simple, clear email with the idea.
Shortly after, this happened:
Forrest did a simple interview style video all about freelancing with Tim.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the video description included a link to Tim’s free course (and Tim was also able to mention it in the video).
The results?
1,000+ people signed up for the free course / Tim’s email list
Around 100 of them booked a free strategy session
That converted into $17,500 in directly attributable coaching sales (though Tim estimates the real number is more like $25,000.
Keep in mind, that’s at the old price for Tim’s 90-day coaching program ($2,500).
Sidenote: check out the video to see how Tim recently doubled the price and brought in an additional $7,500 in sales (with $7,500-12,000 more likely on the way).
How to Spot Non-Competitive “Content Gaps” in Your Niche
“But wait…aren’t Tim and Forrest competitors?”
This is the type of question that stops SO many business owners from following in Tim’s footsteps.
Repeat after me:
Just because you both serve the same niche of people does NOT mean you are competitors.
Tim and Forrest both serve web developers. But Tim specifically helps them with growing their freelance business, while Forrest is more concentrated on helping them improve their development skills.
Same audience. Different areas of expertise and content.
Here is a great question to ask yourself to spot these “content gap” opportunities in your own niche:
Who is teaching the same types of people as me…but teaching them something different?
Make a list, come up with some content ideas for their audience, and start pitching.
Want me to find the growth opportunities in your coaching or course business? Let’s talk.
Here’s what Tim had to say about his experience in our coaching program, Growth University:
“The folks at Growth Tools have been far and away the best coaches I’ve worked with. You guys have been absolutely fantastic in helping me think through everything from the strategy to the tactics to the mindset.”
As you can see from this post, the results speak for themselves.
Want us to analyze your business like we did Tim’s and find your best opportunities for growth?
Book a Strategy Call with my team and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Plus, if it’s a good fit, we’ll show you what it would look like for us to coach you like we coached Tim.
Grab a spot on our calendar here to get started.
On the call, we’ll show you:
Growth opportunities you’re currently overlooking in your business.
The step-by-step process you can use to take advantage of those opportunities.
What it would look like to have my team individually coach you through the entire process.