Have you ever wished that you could maybe just borrow somebody else's audience and bring them into your course launch? I mean, we've probably all looked at someone else's audience and thought, "man they're perfect. They're exactly the kind of people who need my course and they're over there and I don't know how to get in front of them without being weird and feeling like I'm stealing them." And you just aren't quite sure how to organically and naturally, and in a good way, bring them into your own audience.
Well, I've got a way that you can do that. So virtual summits are kind of the perfect way to borrow someone else's audience, because you're not just borrowing someone else's audience, you're also helping that person whose audience it is build their authority as well. And you're introducing them to new audiences too, which is always a bonus for everybody.
So virtual summits are the way that I like to do that without being sleazy and you can borrow my tactic - you can totally swipe that - 'cause you can go invite people who might not otherwise be interested in partnering with you to be part of a virtual summit and you'll be surprised at how many people say yes. Virtual summits are fun, they're a really great way to network with other speakers and the attendees, and people like being part of them a lot of the time, if they're done well. We've probably all seen summits that are not done very well, they feel sleazy. Well, let's move away from that.
You can be part of the movement to make virtual summits great, make them feel more like an actual in-person conference, something people want to attend. And by doing that, you'll be able to network with people who you really genuinely may never have been able to network with otherwise because you don't have a reason to approach them and give them a really good reason to partner with you.
It also gives you an opportunity to.Build those networking relationships like we talked about, because those are some of the most valuable things that you, as a host, will get out of the summit. Forget about all the money, forget about anything else like that. Networking is one of my favorite things about virtual summits.
I've made some really great friends out of virtual summits by talking to the speakers and just getting to know them and giving them opportunities to interact with each other and with me throughout the summit, because that's really what we all want is we want to be able to get deeper relationships with other people in our industry. And it can be really hard to start those friendships, but sometimes those friendships can get really amazing, they can get deep and genuine and be actual friends, not just business friends. So take advantage of that if you decide to host a virtual summit as part of your course launch.
And you'll also be boosting other people's authority when you invite them to be part of your virtual summit. So yeah, you're borrowing their audience, but they're borrowing other people's audiences too. They're getting in front of audiences that they may never have gotten the chance to be in front of and who knows, maybe they'll make friends with that speaker and they'll get to get in front of that audience again. So it was really a win-win for you and the speakers, because you both get in front of new audiences. They get to be seen as an authority in their field, in their topics because they're in front of these audiences, being presented as a guest expert, as an expert speaker. So you're doing them a service as well, and you're both getting benefits out of it.
And you can also save your marketing budget for your course launch because while you're borrowing these audiences, that's not necessarily the primary thing that you want to do with the summit. I mean, honestly, it's nice. It really does help, but you really want to be building a community, and that includes your speakers, your attendees. And if you're building that community the right way, you really may not need ads very much at all. I know that ads are often something that are touted as the way to do your course launch, and there's all these funnels around them and that's great. And they can be amazing, but if you can do it without having to spend all your money on ads - and honestly you can make money at this instead of spending it - that's a really good bonus.
Because with virtual summits, you can sell access to the replays and the speakers get benefits out of it because you can set them up as affiliates. So they'll get a portion of the proceeds that they sell. So they only get it when they sell it through their link typically - you can do it however you want, but they get a benefit through that. And you get a benefit because the money that you get from that, you could still go put that back into ads. You could go and bring even more people into the summit as those sales start rolling in, increase your ad budget, however you want to do it. And by building that audience that can also build your course sales.
So, if you've ever wanted to borrow somebody else's audience for your course launch, I would highly recommend signing up for your free ticket for the
Sell With a Summit: Course Creator Edition. My friend Krista over at Summit in a Box and I have put together this amazing event. We have over 25 speakers who are going to be teaching you at this event. We'll be covering everything from the basics of how to start your own summit and how to integrate your course into it, because that's really important. You want to make sure that your course is the
clear next stepping stone after the summit so that it's the natural place for people to go and buy it after the summit is over.
And if you want to sign up for that, go to
sellwithasummit.com. I would love to see you inside of that community and get to hang out with you in there and just honestly, just get to watch your course launch and your summit.
