Have you ever wanted to reach out to leaders in your industry, but you just weren’t sure how?
A lot of people either don’t bother reaching out to industry leaders, or if they do muster up the courage to reach out, they do it in the wrong way. As a result, they never end up making that connection.
The good news is that it’s easier than you might think to connect with influencers in your industry. Remember, they are people just like you. They started out the same way you did. And, they grow by making connections too!
With the right strategy, you can increase your chances of getting a response, and potentially making a powerful connection. So today, we’ll give you some Faxburner tips for reaching out to leaders in your industry!
Find Your Industry Leaders
Naturally, before you can reach out to industry leaders, you have to know who they are!
You might know a few, but you also may be missing out on a few other big ones.
Here are some tips for finding your industry leaders:
- Look up Twitter lists for accounts of people in your industry
- Search common queries in your industry on Google, and look at the top results.
- Ask other people in your industry who they follow and get inspired by
- Search on LinkedIn for influencers and admins for groups in your niche
During this stage, it’s a great idea to invest some time looking at what these leaders do. What they write. What they sell. What they’re all about. You’ll undoubtedly find commonalities, things you appreciate about them, and possibly even shared connections.
Connect Through Social Media and Get on Their Radar
This step isn’t 100% necessary, but it can be the helpful nudge you need to get a response from your outreach email (which we’ll talk about next).
You can comment on their social media posts (Instagram and Facebook), share and retweet their content, and attempt to start relevant conversations with them on Twitter. Aim to add value through the comments and conversations. This will help you get on their radar and begin to recognize you.
For some industry leaders, it may even be all you need to make the connection!
Prepare the Outreach Email
Your outreach email is the key to a proper outreach that builds a connection.
Here are some things you can include in this email:
- Tell them something you love about their work. For example, you can point out a specific blog post, social media post, webinar or whitepaper of theirs that inspired you. This is a relatively common tactic, so a genuine story of how their work inspired you may help you stand out from others who have done the same.
- Offer a tip to improve something on their site or in their business. For example, if you notice a typo on their site, or a broken link, or a strategy you’ve used that would benefit them, you could use that as a way to add value and make a connection.
- Ask an engaging question to give them a reason to respond, like “What was the biggest thing that accelerated your site’s growth when it was just starting out?”
Follow Up
Even if you’ve got a great outreach email, they still may not respond. The email inboxes of industry leaders are often full, and even some good messages slip through the cracks.
So, if they don’t respond after a week or so, you can send another email. In this email, you can quickly recap the first email. This gives them another chance to respond to your email if they forgot to do so the first time around.
If they do respond to the first email, make sure to respond as soon as possible. This shows that you respect their time and gives you a chance to continue the conversation more quickly (instead of having it drag out over weeks).
Wrapping Up How to Reach Out to Leaders in Your Industry…
By connecting with industry leaders, you can accelerate your own business, give yourself more opportunities, and make valuable and lasting connections. Put in some effort attempting to establish these relationships and you’ll reap the rewards for a long time to come.
How have you connected with leaders in your industry? Let us know in the comments below!
